Black Liberation is Feminism: Police Brutality and the Erasure of Black and Trans Women
“Feminist efforts to politicize experiences of women and antiracist efforts to politicize experiences of people of color have frequently proceeded as though the issues and experiences they each detail occur on mutually exclusive terrains….The failure of feminism to interrogate race means that the resistance strategies of feminism will often replicate and reinforce the subordination of people of color, and the failure of antiracism to interrogate patriarchy means that antiracism will frequently reproduce the subordination of women.” Kimberle Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” Breonna Taylor would have been 27 years old on Friday. She was an EMT – a life giver, a life keeper, a life saver. A protector in service of the people. She was murdered by eight bullets fired by police officers while sleeping in her own home. The police who killed her have neither been arrested nor fired. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, grieved in prison under charges of attempted murder of an officer, because he shot at the plain-clothes police who did not announce themselves before breaking into the house like intruders on a no-knock...
Chiang Mai Climate Strike: AUA Students in Global Solidarity
Chiang Mai, Thailand On Friday, September 20th, dozens of students from the AUA Access Microscholarship Program organized a climate strike in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in solidarity with millions of climate protestors around the world. They were joined by individuals and...
That Anonymous Op-Ed Is Dangerous. Here’s Why.
The only thing more frightening than the New York Times' anonymous op-ed itself is the fact that it is apparently meant to be reassuring. The letter, written by a “senior official in the Trump administration,” assures readers that there are “adults in the room” who...
This Is What White Accountability Looks Like
The wheels of oppression keep on turning even when we don’t acknowledge that we are in the car. White supremacists marching and murdering people in the street are white people’s problem, and it’s time to start acting like it. Or are we still pretending that we’re...
7 Better Ways To Support Someone With A Mental Illness
Chester Bennington is gone and I’ve been thinking all week about what it means for someone who kept so many people from committing suicide to have themselves committed suicide. It’s sort of unfathomable, in its way, like the way the world works is broken, like glue...
Feminism
9 Simple Ways To Focus Your Feminism After International Women’s Day
International Women's Day is a great initiative that brings awareness to women's issues. This year, the organizers of the Women's March held an international Day Without A Woman strike. While we can hope that the momentum behind the Women's March and Strike will keep...
Why It’s Smart For Conservatives To Support Abortion
Amidst all the furor about planned parenthood and abortion rights, the NY Times published a thinkpiece by Ross Douthat called “There Is No Pro Life Case For Planned Parenthood.” Tucked between hyperbole and melodrama, the thesis was this: liberals who are squeamish...
Race
Urban Contemporary: A Racial Breakthrough, or Racism at the Grammys?
Make The Grammys Great Again We all got some serious deja vu when Adele was graced with the Album of the Year Grammy award and melted into a tearful speech about why Beyoncé should have won instead. “Beyoncé should have won.” How many times have we heard this now?...
Why It’s Easier To Be A White Addict
The New York Times published an article by Katharine Q. Seelye today titled “As Heroin Use by Whites Soars, Parents Urge Gentler Drug War.” Much of the meat is in the title: white people are suddenly doing a ton of heroin, and so drug abuse should be decriminalized....
Politics
Your Right to Free Speech Doesn’t Mean what You Think
The anecdotal evidence of my own Facebook feed tells me that a lot of people don’t know what “free speech” actually means. "PC culture" isn't trampling on your right to free speech. Milo Yiannopoulos's rights to free speech aren't being violated if UC Berkeley or UC...
This Is How To Judge A Successful Protest
When things look bleakest, it is important to remember the victories. It can be discouraging to look back at the major protest movements of the past few years. Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Fight For 15, Standing Rock, and now the Women’s March took over...