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 [...]
The Occupy movement has a growing challenge that needs immediate attention: in-house rape. As of today, there are at least 4 reported rapes in Baltimore, Cleveland, Glasgow and Dallas, the latter of which includes a14-year-old runaway girl and a convicted sex offender. I imagine there are several others, most of which have likely gone unreported—for various reasons. First, many of the police officers working Occupy movements haven’t necessarily proven...
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By Ally Karsyn Countless cases of sexual assault are excluded from federal statistics each year. Since 1927, the FBI has been using the same definition of rape, meaning they only count cases of “forcible male penile penetration of a female.” Any sexual assault that falls outside this narrow definition doesn’t count as rape. In a long-awaited move, the FBI took its first step last week to expand the federal...
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By S. Buchalter There was a time, that I was on the front lines or behind the fences, in the dark, at night, climbing over them to do the dirty work of a revolution. I believe in property damage to the man, especially when he / they are going to flood Native American Land once again and all the magic in the world that I have been doing, all...
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By Destiny Birdsong, Donika Ross, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, and Nikki Spigner On October 2, 2011, in Nashville, Tennessee, hundreds of people gathered for SlutWalk Nashville. Merely one week before this gathering, the Black Women’s Blueprint issued a statement concerning the critique of the SlutWalk movement, and particularly the ways in which the signed writers felt marginalized as black women. The debate, perhaps begun by and at least taken on as early...
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On the night Troy Davis was murdered by the state of Georgia, I watched a girl, who appeared to be about twelve years old, cry. Together, we sat in the social hall of a local church to hold vigil. Waiting and witnessing on the night of an execution is not unique, and Davis was only one of two being executed that night in these “United States.” But details of...
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Critics from Fox News to feminist groups have argued that the violence, blatant sexism and idolization of drugs and criminal behavior found in rap lyrics have negative repercussions for society. These concerns are rightfully raised, but it seems that little has been done to address why rap music has such a confrontational and blunt (pun intended) approach. Rawness is the strength behind this movement of rap music—honesty about the...
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Nev Nnaji’s “Reflections Unheard: Black Women in Civil Rights” reflects upon the marginalization of black women in the Black Power and Feminist movements and raises awareness of the intersectionality of race and gender oppression. Documenting Civil Rights through the voices of women of the movement, “Reflections Unheard” considers the issues of the 1960s and 70s which echo for black women, even today. Director Nev Nnaji has been working diligently...
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June Jordan teaches that: “Love is lifeforce.” And the healing power of love has saved my life more than once. In the name of this truth, I affirm the arrival of Freeing Ourselves: A Guide to Health and Self Love for Brown Bois, a recent resource published by the Brown Boi Leadership project and written by masculine of center queer people of color and their allies. I think of...
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For those of us who are not able to travel to New York City because we are fortunate enough to have jobs and must attend them, the manifestations on Wall Street are among the most remarkable developments in our recent history. The fact that the occupation as an idea has spread to cities in Europe and Asia powerfully attests to the notion that as citizens of the world we...
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By Darnell L. Moore These are the times to grow our souls. Each of us is called upon to embrace the conviction that despite the powers and principalities bent on commodifying all our human relationships, we have the power within us to create the world anew. – Grace Lee Boggs These are moving times: countless marginalized bodies across the world are moved to protest; varied groups organized along peripheries—separated by...
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Sign. Signifier. Signify. Signified: an American African ghazal I’ve heard Death is a white man in black tie, a man captive in a trick of black. I hear myth, an earthworm moving an inch at a time, urging black earth aside. Elms in winter displace heat, turn black as damaged snow. In theatres before curtains release and withdraw from black, music lingers, intactly absent. Silence. Exercise patience. How does...
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By Jennifer K Uleman Tuesday, October 11, 2011: I went back down to Occupy Wall Street today. I’d been down on Saturday, for the first time, with friends Marc and Brooke and Miles. On Columbus Day I went again, on my own. I had other things to do, but as I woke up I knew I just had to go back. Today I found myself there again for the...
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The Feminist Wire is happy to present a series on “Occupy Wall Street,” as it moves from its origin to 145 other cities throughout the United States and while the New York City protesters fight to keep their right to protest. Furthermore, on the heels of the “riots” in England, the “Occupy Wall Street” model in Italy turned violent on Saturday, October 16. Regardlless of the accusations that this protest or emerging movement...
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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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