17 May 2013
“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help [...]
22 May 2013
By Elizabeth Dorssom I first started referring to myself as a feminist when I was 17. Even though I didn’t identify as a feminist until I was older I was definitely a feminist from a very young age. When I was in elementary school I enjoyed playing with Hot Wheels cars instead [...]
20 May 2013
By Molly Baker On April 23, University of Arizona student Dean Saxton, better known as Brother Dean, stood on a bench brandishing a sign that bluntly stated in bold, black letters “You Deserve Rape.” Saxton proceeded to verbally harass many women that walked by on their way to class, calling them [...]
15 May 2013
By Mohadesa Najumi When I think about what modesty means in today’s political, cultural and religious environment, I am inclined to believe that the concept itself does not involve choice, or any dimension of freedom or independent thought. Rather, modesty constitutes a dictatorial concept forced upon women whether they agree [...]
7 May 2013
*Trigger warning* Sometimes I feel like the NRA is actively just trying to lose all the credibility it has left in this world. Just when you thought the NRA’s annual convention in Houston this weekend couldn’t draw any more negative attention, it goes out and casually promotes a company selling a product [...]
29 Mar 2013
By Monica Torres When I sign my name, it’s Monica, not Mónica. When I order pupusas at my favorite restaurant, the waiter will give my accent an approving nod, as if to say, you’re one of us. But it will only take a harder question for me to reveal the [...]
18 Mar 2013
By Alexa Lambertis At an early age, I was exposed to a woman who essentially changed my life. A sweet lady with a southern background, she was introduced to me as a family friend. I met her in her own home, where we would spend a majority of our time [...]
By j.n. salters Last week, Kermit Gosnell—the African-American “late-term abortionist” who delivered live babies and then stuck scissors in the backs of their necks and “snipped” their spinal cords in his West Philadelphia “house of horrors”—was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in the deaths of three babies, the overdose death of a patient, and hundreds of abortion law violations. Stephen Massof, an unlicensed medical school graduate and former...
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By Jardana Peacock Some stories you don’t want to tell. Some places you just don’t want to return to. But some stories destroy you unless they are shared. The story I have to tell is one of trauma, yoga, community organizing, de-colonizing wellness, and healing. This story begins in 2001, several months after I was hit by a car. I was alive, but felt like I was dead. In...
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From Women, Action and Media May 21, 2013 An Open Letter to Facebook: We, the undersigned, are writing to demand swift, comprehensive and effective action addressing the representation of rape and domestic violence on Facebook. Specifically, we call on you, Facebook, to take three actions: Recognize speech that trivializes or glorifies violence against girls and women as hate speech and make a commitment that you will not tolerate this...
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By Kalima DeSuze, Nicole Patin and Farah Tanis on behalf of the members of Black Women’s Blueprint To Our Sisters, To those who have survived sexual assault or any other form of violation along the continuum of categories of sexual violence reserved primarily for women, female body or not, we at Black Women’s Blueprint write you in solidarity, in support and in sisterhood. Many of us are survivors ourselves...
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By Eddie Glaude, Lester Spence, Imani Perry, Josie Pickens, David Leonard, and Kiese Laymon We come together to share our various thoughts and reactions to the recent speeches from President Obama and the First Lady. Each of us were disappointed and frustrated in the rhetoric delivered this past week, not only because of what was said but because of the impact of such words on day-to-day lives. ***** I...
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By Quincy Scott Jones Town and Country: A Review of Marci Blackman’s Tradition (Water Street Press, 2013) In the most brilliant crimes stories, the detective must travel, and hence guide the audience, from more familiar settings to enter hidden and hostile communities. Sherlock Holmes leaves the humdrum armchair to investigate the Red-Headed League. Easy Rawlins leaves his middle class home to dig into the seedy streets of 1940s South Central L.A. Even...
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By Dara Tafakari Mathis I am a punch line of a black woman and my pride is bruised. You will laugh later, I promise myself, but all I want to do right now is escape and cry. My six-month old baby gurgles at me, her two teeth poking from her gums like white square Chiclets. But she brings more heaviness than laughter today, of all days, when it would be...
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By Sidney Fussell Simply put, no. Black people are not “more” homophobic than white people. That’s a myth. But here I want to unpack what purpose this myth serves for the status quo and how this myth distracts from white homophobia. White dominated LGBT organizations such as GLAAD, NOH8, and the It Gets Better campaign mobilize celebrity advocacy, fundraise, and garner online support, their efforts consistently erase black support...
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Did you know that my mom is a therapist? She is! And at it’s very best psychology is the science of learning how to love ourselves and each other better and better and better. (And like most fields…at its worst it is basically the opposite of that.) I have grown up hearing my mom use a scientific term called “operational practice” which, as I see it, means things that...
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by Gregory L. Caldwell and Omar Ricks Dear President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, At the risk of running afoul of the PATRIOT act, we declare that we still love and respect Assata Shakur no matter what you say. Black people are in a new nadir, and Assata Shakur comes out of a tradition of committed revolutionaries who have resisted the forces that got us there. Assata...
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The Feminist Wire supports the petition below. To add your name, please visit change.org. For more on Assata Shakur from us, please see forthcoming articles celebrating her birthday in July. Friday, May 10, 2013 . President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 . . Dear President Obama: . We write to urge you to overrule the FBI’s decision to put Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Chesimard,...
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By Lisa Brock and Beth E. Richie Feminist women of color activists and anyone who considers themselves our allies in the struggle for justice need to be outraged that our sister Assata Shakur, a 65-year-old grandmother living in political exile in Cuba, was added to the Most Wanted Terrorists List on May 3, 2013. FBI Special Agent Aaron Ford, on behalf of the New Jersey State Police, the New...
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The Feminist Wire is committed to providing space for critical dialogue. We are reprinting NCBL’s statement in its entirety with permission from the authors with the express purpose of offering such space. The views expressed in what follows are those of NCBL. The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) condemns the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s recent placement of activist Assata Shakur on its Most Wanted Terrorists list, and its...
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22 May 2013
By Aditi Rao Dear Mr. Yadav, I too am an Indian Woman “Referring to the recent ‘Slut Walk’ held in the Capital, Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav said we had naked women walking down the streets with tattoos on their cheeks, whereas Indian women did not even look up while [...]
17 May 2013
Assata do not dry like dissipated plums under castro’s bronzing sun you mural fortress you live memorial spirited artifice rouged sea salt that marinates america’s wound Assata you like stripped bone road unaware of which exit is free birth brown coagulated rhythm redefined reborn rumba queen Assata dusk breath [...]
16 May 2013
“Affirmation” by Assata Shakur* ___ I believe in living. I believe in the spectrum of Beta days and Gamma people. I believe in sunshine. In windmills and waterfalls, tricycles and rocking chairs. And i believe that seeds grow into sprouts. And sprouts grow into trees. I believe in the magic [...]
7 May 2013
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