Author Archives: prof susurro

Google and Viacom are Run by Satan

Posted in current affairs, paranoia by

Oh blog readers you make much fun of me for ranting about google products and all their evil little cookies tracking everything that you do. Many of you have ignored my pleas not to switch over to the blog comment software that uses login data, to avoid google search engines, and to check pages for javascript spyware (colleges love those), all b/c they are watching and logging your every key stoke. They have even provided “misinformation” about their privacy protections to hide their evil snooping databanks. Even more of you missed that important warning about what the alliance between google and myspace means for feminist voices who do not want sexist ads attached to their pages over at Sudy’s. What Sudy only implies, as it is secondary to the link between abusive links between race and gender these ads represent, is that those ads are generated by spyware that picks up on often used words in the page and it also plants spyware on the desktops of page visitors. But now you will have to listen: Viacom has just forced Google to hand over its user log for youtube. User log? Blink?!? Yep, evil google has been keeping track of everything you do on youtube without your consent and now Viacom is going to use it first to go after copyright infringement and then no doubt to bombard you with targeted products. Oh, and while I am complaining about google, did you know that they provide none of those “google is the best place to work” perks to their janitorial staff and when called on it they said “oh, but, ummm, they are independently contracted” mmmhmmmm tell it to the people who cannot feed their kids on the sub-contract wages. (google has since supplemented the wages of janitorial staff hired by them but not those sub-contracted workers.)

This paranoid rant has been brought to you by the usually sane Professor Black Woman. Don’t let the tone fool you.

read more about the court decision here.

Stall Tactics not Just a N. American Pastime

Posted in current affairs, sexuality by

The excitement in India was high during historic gay pride marches this past weekend. The hope was simple: Tomorrow the High Court will finally decriminalize homosexuality erasing a colonial inspired law (Section 377) to suppress love among people of the same sex. 4 days later, with a new petition rally sponsored by the Naz Foundation and backed by the U.N. call to decriminalize earlier this year, the court has transferred the case to another jurisdiction. The next hearing is set for July 22, 2008. It was originally filed in 2002.

The Home Ministry released the following homophobic statement about the potential impact of getting rid of the law:

“Indian society strongly disapproves of homosexuality and disapproval is strong enough to justify it being treated as a criminal offence even where consenting adults indulge in it in private . . .Deletion of the section can open floodgates of delinquent behaviour and be misconstrued as providing unbridled licence for homosexual acts.”

On an optimistic note, the High Court has promised to fast track review of the case. One of the Judges charged with review of the case also noted that he would have participated in the rally himself but that would have been a conflict of interest.

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Esmin Green – Dies B/c She Does Not Count

Posted in ableism, classism, immigration, intersectionality, just plain wrong, racism, sexism by

Esmin Green, a 49 year old Black woman, died at Kings County Hospital in NY while waiting for a psychiatric appointment. Ms Green fell off her chair in plain sight of security and staff, seized, and died. A white male security guard stared at her body on the floor, clearly disgusted, but did nothing. He may have been able to save her life if he was not too busy letting racism-ableism-sexism-ageism-and-classism (ie “look at that poor old black n lyin’ on the floor”) get in his way. Another guard, black, rolled his chair out to look at her and also dismissed her motionless body no doubt for similar oppressive reasons. An hour later, hospital staff, aided by a black security guard, tried to help her. She was already dead.

The hospital then backdated her medical records to cover their blatant incompetence. They wrote in Green’s chart that she was sitting quietly in her chair at 6:20 am and that they attempted to resuscitate her immediately after she collapsed. They also said they checked on her 1/2 hour earlier and she was fine. No such check in occurred; unless you count the annoyed security guard staring at her body on the floor as a medical checkin. Moreover, surveillance video of the room shows Green was likely dead by 6:08 am having collapsed to the floor at 5:32.

While the hospitals in NY are extremely over taxed. The race, class, gender, ability, and age issues involved in this case cannot be ignored. The most overtaxed hospitals are the ones serving the poor. Studies show that older people, people with mental health issues, and women of color receive the least adequate preventive care and needed medical intervention when in triage across N. America. As a woman’s advocate in my social service life, as opposed to a women’s advocate in my academic one, I spent a considerable amount of time helping stigmatized women navigate the medical system. Part of that work included spending time in Emergency rooms for women and children and in mental health triage units. I kept statistics on service provided and wrote annual reports that documented all interventions on our service population. I can tell you first hand that poor, non-English Speaking or ESL, immigrant women (regardless of language skill), and women with mental health or alcohol and drug issues received the least adequate care in my area regardless of medical facility. Often the behavior of intake workers indicates their disdain for people without means and recurring medical issues. While I cannot divulge their stories, I can tell you that many women for whom I have advocated would likely not have received adequate care without the intervention of my agency and the culturally competent social workers on the hospital staff. I know of several cases in at least one hospital that resulted in death when advocates and social workers were not present. (These cases have all been settled out of court because there were no witnesses; the tampering with Esmin Green’s medical records is more common than you might think.)

Jamaican immigrant, Esmin Green was inside the hospital, seated directly in front of the waiting room observation window. Like other patients, she was waiting patiently to be seen by a physician. Medical staff were not only aware of her presence but could see her from where she sat. She did not die of a siezure. Esmin Green died of bigotry.

6 people have been fired in the case.

read more articles about her here.

The lawyers representing her family have released a copy of the waiting room footage. You can watch it below if you can stomach it.

When DNA Makes You Smile and Rage

Posted in activism, current affairs, homophobia, immigration, intersectionality, just plain wrong, powerful feminism, racism, sexism by

For most targeted communities, the unequal justice of the North American legal system is nothing news worthy. Despite repeated cases proving that poor communities and communities of color are unfairly criminalized and more heavily prosecuted than rich white communities, the government continues to pass laws targeting already pathologized groups. Most recently, they reviewed a series of sus laws (laws based on the potential for guilt based on suspicion of criminality without cause used to racially profile the Irish and then Black British under Thatcher under the guise of preventing terrorism) that would once again legally sanction racial profiling of Middle Eastern and Muslims back in the U.S. (I know they already do it.)

Recent documentaries, as well as Angela Davis’ classic writing on prisons, also remind how this criminalization specifically impacts women. Research also provides gendered theories of understanding the “justice system” that criminalize men and women along specifically gendered lines.

Yet we continue to build more prisons. The new cottage industry of ICE holding cells, another word for prison, booms. Communities that once challenged the building sites of prisons now champion them as key sites of economic growth. As the economy downward spiral continues in N. America prisons offer the two-fold tools of deflection: 1. blame – its not the government’s policies its those criminals and immigrants and 2. single industry supported jobs – prison employment and the industries that grow around them. Communities become dependent on the latter and more in need of the former. Criminality becomes an ever more naturalized necessity.

Today’s trial in Dallas Texas reminds us what happens when a nation is invested in deflection and a justice system that often works along the lines of oppression.

APTOPIX DNA Exoneration(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

38 year old Patrick Waller was released from prison today after DNA evidence proved he had no part in the kidnap,rape, and robbery of a white Texas couple for which he was convicted on the basis of “id” at 23. Like so many others, Waller went into prison barely an adult and will leave it nearing his 40s.

The men who actually committed the crime will serve NO jail time despite confessing because the statute of limitations has run out. This means that injustice was not only visited upon Waller b/c of the myth of the black rapist but also the white, female, rape survivor whose assailants will never be convicted. Both she and Waller’s mother represent the female faces of a system that criminalizes black men for being black.

DNA Exoneration (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Waller is also 1 of 19 men who have been set free from the Texas prison system based on DNA evidence proving their innocence since 2001. 4 other men, who wrongly served 100 years between them in prison, attended Waller’s exoneration and were cited as an inspiration to keep going in prison by Waller when interviewed. All 19 men were aided by The Innocence Project of Texas.

Please consider giving to or volunteering with the Innocence Project, which has chapters throughout the U.S., especially if you are a feminist to increase their focus toward more gender equity in the cases they take. Please also consider taking time out to learn more about the prison industrial complex in N. America and how it ultimately impacts all of us. (The rape victim in Waller’s case will never see her rapist behind bars b/c of the racism and injustice of the system we currently have just as much as Waller will never get those 15 years back.)

Here’s a list of places to start:

Reading Material

Listen

Organizations

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Missing Girl Found Dead

Posted in just plain wrong, sexism by

It is with sadness that I have to report that yet another young woman was found dead despite a frantic search to find her.

Brooke Bennett, age 12, went missing a week ago in Vermont. Her 42 year old uncle, Micheal Jacques, is suspected of kidnapping her with the intent of inducting her into a sex trafficking ring/sex club of which he is a part. Another teenage witness, 14, said she was present when Jacques convinced Brooke she was going to a party only to take her to be initiated into the sex ring. She also said she left Jacques home moments after he took the girl upstairs and never saw her again. The girl has accused Jacques of initiating her into the sex ring when she was 9 years old. According to her statement the group consisted of several local area men and their friends sexually abusing chosen girls in the area from childhood forward.

Brooke’s step-father, Raymond Gangon, may also be part of the sex ring. All though police currently have no evidence linking him to the ring, they have charged him with obstruction of justice and note that he frequently came up to VT from his new TX home for reasons unknown. Gangon admits to having accessed and altered Brooke’s myspace page after her disappearance with the goal of making it look like she had run off with a fictional boy she met online. He also used her computer to access pornography. Both of these activities would lend themselves to the common narrative of girls being lured away by internet predators who engage in increasingly sexualized discourse with them prior, including the sending and receiving of pornography. It is possible Gangon hoped this would throw police of the family’s trail.

Baker was arrested Saturday on charges of sexual abuse of a separate minor. He claimed he was not guilty of the abuse charges nor of kidnapping Brooke and refused to cooperate in locating her prior to the finding of the body. He had previously provided the police with some of Brooke’s clothes, supposedly found in the dirt near the convenient store where Brooke was last seen. Police listed the clothes condition as suspicious and now think it was part of the attempt to throw them off that ultimately helped them figure out who was responsible. Brooke’s body was found on land just outside of baker’s property.

My thoughts go out to her mother and friends who searched frantically for her and who must now deal with a loss that maybe much wider than they know.

A Quickie: Wall-E (Some Spoilers)

Posted in Film by

Just got back from Wall-E. This movie is so sweet almost everyone in the audience cried out when they thought the roach (Wall-E’s bestfriend) was dead, and people who live in roach territory know there is nothing cute about roaches.

2750_wall_e_preview_image_1186184869

This movie’s premise is a little bit over the top in its execution but not in its point which is simply that the more consumption driven society is the less sustainable our lives will become. The film is replete with other movie references from R2D2 to #5 (short circuit) to Hal (2001), and yes Ripley (Alien/s),and a little E.T. and Terminator too. Though there are no queer people in the imagined future, there are tons of people of color and a robot revolution to boot.

The real story is the amazing resilience and character of little Wall-E and his love story with fellow robot Eve (ee-va). It iswall-e the most adorable relationship I have seen since Drew Barrymore and E.T. Though Eve is more sophisticated and advanced than Wall-E, they are clearly equals in the plot, dependent on each other to ultimately resolve the storyline and keep each other hopeful and on point. His endless innovations to keep up with his work and with her, when all the other trash compactor robots died, is also one of the subtler ways the film brings home the point of recycling. A point which Eve learns from watching him and ultimately uses to save him. I also love that Eve is more than an object of desire.  As she says throughout the film “prime directive” comes first.  She has a mission and she carries it out even leaving Wall-E behind while robot police are looking for them to make sure it happens.  It is a symbiotic story that allows both characters’ strength, intelligence, and goals to shine. And their love affair is set to Hello Dolly, one of my favorite Babs captain_and_evemusicals, a nice subtle comment on class that is otherwise missing in this film.

The messages about kindness and perseverance are particularly strong. Little Wall-E makes friends wherever he goes by simply taking the time out to wave, introduce himself, and help others. As he does so, the people and robots around him start to follow suit. For the humans, that means forming relationships, discovering forgotten abilities, and displaying heroism in both small and large ways. Ultimately it is learned kindness that saves all of them. Several key moments in the film simply show that “each one does their part” and then we can all survive and thrive.

The only part of the film I would criticize was how trigger happy Eve is, including a multiple boat blow up. I like to thinkwall_e_eve that this was a reference to all the violence in summer movies and how pointless it is, but I know that is wishful thinking. There really is no point to her being fitted with a gun and I wish she had not been. I don’t subscribe to the a woman with a gun dismantles gendered stereotypes of weakness/needing protection school of feminism; think it through and you should get why.

The theater was packed. People were audibly invested in the humans and the machines. And no one got up until they were sure the credits were done, even the littlest kids. In fact, no child made a sound during this movie, accept in the “ahh moments,” they were so enthralled. Even the talkers (you know those people who come in on the phone, text through the film with spoilers, and blab to their friends through the whole thing) were quiet except for the communal cries, laughs, and cheers. You know when an audience giggles appreciatively at a roach popping out of a twinkie that Pixar’s film has worked miracles.

After all the shlock I’ve sat through this summer, this film was a blessing.

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PS. This film has apparently been criticized for being anti-fat. While parents should definitely go to this film prepared to point out the subtle critique to their children, I think it is important to draw a distinction between critique and insult. Wall-E’s large characters are a critique of our society, most large characters in film and television (especially in Wanted) are malignant insults. While the humans in the film are all overweight sipping their food through straws, the film places the onus not on “lazy humans” but on cultivated consumption and service (robot) dependence. All of the human characters in Wall-E are decent, caring, people who actively work toward change in this film once the link to product induced over consumption is severed. They have romances, leadership positions, and are heroes by film’s end, all characteristics denied larger people in the media daily. Pixar is also so meticulous that it provides both medical and social regions for the humans’ obesity, something they did not have to do to get their point across but b/c they wanted to be sure we got that fat was not the issue.

The characters in Wall-E are not slovenly and desperate for ever increasing portions of food like Fat Bastard from Austin Powers or unbearably obnoxious like the boss in Wanted; there is no character faulting large people for “stuffing their faces” and implying they are willfully ignorant and unwilling to change like the first episode of Dr. Who this season. In keeping with the film’s main critique, these are people who have let corporations lull them into a consumption driven haze that first pollutes the planet beyond habitability and then pollutes the mind and the body. The overscale trash compacting robots in the hull of the ship also point to how a failure to change even after 700 years of evacuation means that they are now polluting the universe. And less we think they are lazy, the film includes a moment when two characters falling in love discover the swimming pool and are promptly sanctioned for using it by a corporate owned robot who knows the water is a threat to his (not human’s) existence.

The villain is not the overweight characters but the corporation whose consumption driven emblems dot the earth, the ship, and even the moon.

The Quicklist

Posted in current affairs, intersectionality, just plain wrong, sexism, sexuality by
  • Another woman repeatedly gang raped while neighbors do nothing (PA)
  • Missing Madeleine case maybe closed (Portugal)
  • VA releases report on women’s health improvements (US)
  • UN adds Sexual Violence as Weapon of War to their list of Security Issues
  • haters exploit the Clinton-Obama supporters rift (FL)
  • TR Knight dating a 19 year old (CA)

PA – htp call from a friend – A 20 year old black woman was repeatedly raped overnight by 3 assailants in her ground floor duplex apartment on Wednesday. Despite an assault that lasted nearly 4 hours, her neighbors (including the black woman living in the other half of the plex) heard her screams but did not call police. Like the Dunbar Village case of last year, the 20 year old ultimately walked alone in the street to the police station after the attack to report what no one else cared to. Police have released a description of the assailants that is so nondescript that it could be any black man in N. America: 3 black men, one possibly named Gary, original attacker is 5’6″, medium complexion, and thin build, another is heavy set, last one was wearing jeans and a red sweatshirt.

Portugal – Madeleine McCann went missing at a Portuguese resort last year with the investigation reaching international attention because of the parents’ email awareness campaign and the subsequent support of British celebrities. Earlier this year, McCann’s parents became official suspects as a result of new blood spatter evidenced found by Scotland Yard investigators assisting with the case. It now seems that the Portuguese police may shelf the case as no new evidence nor suspects (a third man was named along with the parents a while ago) have been uncovered. The decision will be based on whether or not their is significant evidence to charge current suspects, remove their suspect status, and/or continue with the investigation.

US Veterans Association – There has been a lot of talk recently about the VA’s inadequate services for women veterans based on a lack of women’s health specialists working at the VA, lack of gender specific equipment and privacy policies, and limited gender based violence services. The VA has released a “civilian friendly” lecture about the research findings and plan to improve service. You can watch it here.

UN – The UN announced on June 19 that it would now view sexual violence as a specific weapon of war. This decision further strengthens the International Violence Against Women Act and the gender competence of relief and peacekeeping responses to war and conflict zones. In the U.S., this may help with the passing of bills previously mentioned on the blog to provide asylum, services, and prosecutions of their attackers found on US soil for women survivors of war related sexual violence.

Florida – Vandals in Florida spray painted several SUVs with racial slurs, racists comments, and general derision of Obama this weekend. They also left business cards with minor criticisms of McCain and saying they were Clinton supporters. Despite the media’s willingness to report this as “angry Clinton supporters” run amuck, it should be fairly clear that this is an attempt to foster more antagonism in the democratic party based on white supremacy. The racial slurs were visible from the street, the business cards were not; the racial slurs actually damaged the vehicles and ensured media attention, the business cards could be removed or maybe even blew away. By attributing these things to Clinton, moments after a joint visit by Clinton and Obama, the perpetrators also seized on existing momentum and perception that is sadly related to the actions of some democrats. My biggest concern is not the tactic itself, which has become all too familiar, but rather the ongoing silence or silencing of women who are Obama supporters and white women Clinton supporters who have not espoused racism. As I keep saying, we need to get in front of the media circus and take the word “woman” back from not only the media but also the bigots.