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 [...]
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 [...]
13 May 2013
By Kristen Reynolds As I sit here on the eve of my graduation, cataloging what I’ve learned over the last few years as a Black woman coming into (what I hope is) consciousness – I feel a great deal of shame. Shame and, if I am going to be incredibly honest, [...]
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 Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons I am a practicing Muslim and an Islamic scholar who received my Ph.D. with a focus on Islamic law and women from Temple University in 2002. I came into the tradition via Sufism, the Mystical Stream in Islam. It was my great fortune to meet and study with a Sufi...
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By Josh Cerretti I am neither a Muslim nor a woman; however, I am attempting to enact feminism and social justice in the age of the ‘War on Terror’. Consequently, I see the necessity of thinking and acting as an ally to Muslim women. This is obviously an incomplete, challenging, and humbling process, but...
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By Shaista Patel For the last several years, I have identified myself as a Muslim feminist in my activist and grad school circle(s). However, as I sat down to write this article, I suddenly felt quite nervous. I realized that I did not know if I would be recognized as a Muslim feminist by others....
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By Dana Olwan and Sophia Azeb Nearly 1.8 billion people around the world annually celebrate Ramadan, the ninth and holiest month of the Islamic (Hijri) calendar. For many, this means we abstain from food, water, and sex and from cursing, pridefulness, anger, jealousy, and other selfish temptations all month long, from sunrise to sunset....
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By Paul Burns In the last few years, there has been a significant shift in the sensibilities and outlooks of Americans as it relates to the inclusion of gays and lesbians in mainstream society and the procurement of legal rights and social rites. A recent Pew Research Center study showed that 47% of Americans support...
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FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, has agreed tooverturn its controversial ban on the wearing of hijabs during games. The organization instituted the regulation in 2007, as the formal rules of the sportprohibit equipment that make a religious statement or pose a danger to players. Referring to the garb as “headscarves” rather than “hijabs” in order to escape...
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Widows in India have a pronoun problem. The estimated 40 million women widows in the country go from being called “she” to “it” when they lose their husbands. They become “de-sexed” creatures. Clearly, it’s more than a problem of language, although that discrimination goes further, with epithets such as “husband eater” used against them. In the...
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Jews and Muslims are joining forces in outrage over a German court’s decision that could prohibit parents from having their children circumcised for religious reasons. The court deemed the oft-religious procedure an act of “bodily harm” to children, according to German media reports. The Tuesday ruling says doctors who perform the procedure for religious...
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By Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn It has been a week since the first story broke about my marriage to my beautiful wife, Emma Benn, at Silver Sands Villa in Duncans Trelawney, a parish in Jamaica. In one week, our lives have changed. It started with an article in the Jamaica Gleaner, “Lesbian Nuptials at Silver...
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By Tara Bynum and Alexis Pauline Gumbs From at least 1772 to 1779 Phillis Wheatley, the “first” published African American poet wrote letters to another literate enslaved woman, Obour Tanner. Almost 250 years later, exploring this legacy of literacy, evangelism, friendship and freedom two African American literary scholars Tara Bynum and Alexis Pauline Gumbs...
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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 [...]
16 May 2013
for Assata Amira Nakati Carter-Goff on her tenth birthday call down the name freedom call up the spirit of no matter what now call your shared name liberation veins steel will fierce focus shielding sacred smile laugh your own name radiant as cuba laugh your yawning name into language [...]
7 May 2013
7 May 2013
30 Apr 2013
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20 Apr 2013
The Guardian