Stop Calling Asian Women Adorable
Stop Calling Asian Women Adorable
It’s impossible for me to catalog all the times I’ve been in a professional setting when someone thought it appropriate to tell me about my appearance.
Most recently I was at a literary festival in Georgia.I had just talked about my book for a little under an hour: the 10 years of work I’d put into it the research I conducted to feel confident inventing a cult of domestic terrorists and the personal grief and loss underlying the novel.In the signing line afterward a woman complimented me on my remarks and said she was excited about my book.Then she added You’re adorable. I wish I could adopt you With a big smile she walked away There was also the bookstore event at which during the question and-answer portion of the evening and in front of a packed crowd with whom I’d just been discussing craft books literature a woman told me how cute she thought I was. There’s the time I guest taught at a graduate program and a fellow professor called me and my friend both of us on the faculty and both of us Asian American.
‘Women Here Are Very, Very Worried
‘Women Here Are Very, Very Worried
Afghan women used to be championed by almost everyone. Now they’re all but forgotten The issue of protecting the expanded rights of Afghan women is not a part of peace talks between the Taliban and the United States
It was once a prominent and bipartisan cause:the liberation of Afghan women from the tyranny of the Taliban These women were championed by an array of strange bedfellows: feminists like Eleanor Smeal celebrities like Lily Tomlin and stalwarts of a conservative administration like Laura Bush and Dick Cheney.In the early days of the invasion the world heard vivid stories of the changes the war had brought. Women could walk freely outside their houses and put on makeup girls could go to school. It was a narrative that helped buoy public support for the fight in Afghanistan and deflect criticism about American empire.
In November 2001, as American troops were fighting to drive Al Qaeda out of the country and topple the Taliban government Mrs.Bush was given the megaphone of the president’s weekly radio address Only the terrorists and the Taliban forbid education to women she said.Only the terrorists and the Taliban threaten to pull out women’s fingernails for wearing nail polish.
UN human rights chief: Every day 8 children in Yemen killed, hurt despite truce
Children living in 31 active conflict zones across the country witness ‘heavy, war-related violence,’ says Michelle Bachelet.
The UN human rights chief warned Wednesday that children in Yemen continued to be killed and maimed at an alarming rate, despite a three-month-old truce in a vital port.
“Since the Stockholm agreement on December 13, it is estimated that eight children have been killed or injured in Yemen every day,” Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Yemen’s beleaguered Saudi-backed government and Iranian-linked Huthi rebels agreed in Sweden on a truce that included a ceasefire in Hodeida, the lifeline port on the Red Sea.
But Bachelet said children were currently living in 31 active conflict zones across the country, and witnessing “heavy, war-related violence,” including in Taez, Hajjah and Saada.
The Norwegian Refugee Council said earlier this week that 348 civilians had been killed in Hajjah and Taez alone since the Stockholm accord was signed.
The UN rights chief voiced particular concern at the recent escalation in the northern province of Hajjah, where 22 people — 12 children and 10 women — were killed, and another 30, nearly half of them children, were hurt in strikes earlier this month.
An estimated 10,000 people have been killed since March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — with the logistical and political backing of the United States — unleashed air power against the Huthi rebels.
Rights groups say the death toll could be far higher. Save the Children has estimated that 85,000 Yemenis under five years old may have died of starvation.
Bachelet said it was unclear how many children had starved to death in Yemen but warned that “Yemeni civilians, including children, are now more vulnerable and hungrier than at any time since March 2015.”
She said more than two million children were suffering from acute malnutrition, including 360,000 with severe, acute malnutrition, meaning they are wasting away and risk starvation.
Bachelet also voiced deep concern at reports that both the government-backed forces and the Huthis were continuing to enlist children as fighters.
“In most cases, the children are between 11 and 17 years old, but there have been consistent reports of the recruitment or use of children as young as eight,” she said.
Source: Times Of Israel
Religious, civil rights groups ask Pompeo to request expert probe of U.S. racism
Scores of religious and civil rights organizations have asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to request an evaluation by a U.N. expert of the scope of racism in the country.
“While we appreciate the U.S.’s stated commitment to fighting racism, we believe that commitment ought to manifest itself in tangible actions rather than only words,” reads the letter released Thursday (March 21) by the National Council of Churches.
“We are deeply concerned by credible reports indicating a frightening resurgence in white supremacy, which has led to a rise in racism and hate crimes against racial, ethnic, and religious minority communities both in the US and abroad as evidenced by the recent horrific and unspeakable mass murder in New Zealand.”
The letter says that the U.S. is 16 months late in submitting its periodic report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which requires that member countries who have agreed to a 1969 treaty submit regular reports on legal and administrative measures they are taking to end discrimination based on race.
A Trump administration representative told the U.N. in November that the country is committed “to fighting racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”
The last investigation of the U.S. by a special rapporteur on racism occurred in 2008 during the George W. Bush administration. That expert, Doudou Diène, noted “decisive progress in the political and legal combat against racism” in his report.
“However,” he added, “the historical, cultural and human depth of racism still permeates all dimensions of life of American society.”
The letter from religious and civil rights leaders was released on the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The groups note that the letter provides Pompeo and them “an opportunity for us to work together during this Quad-Centennial of the arrival of African peoples from Angola to the USA in 1619.”
Read more: Religion News
UNESCO Campaign Tackles Racism
UNESCO Campaign Tackles Racism
The Paris-based U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization on Thursday launched a campaign to fight prejudice. The move coincided with International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Begun with the French city of Bordeaux the UNESCO billboard campaign features a variety of faces old and young men and women and of many ethnic backgrounds The tagline us different aims to make us think about who we are and our prejudices.You would walk by it and hope fully react Is that person on the screen different said Magnus Magnusson partnerships and outreach director at UNESCO’s social and human science division Ultimately it’s about our own awareness of our own stereotypes and we need to work each one of us on those stereotypes that could illustrate or be reflections on racism he said The campaign rollout comes at a time when experts say brazen forms of racism are resurging in sports on social media and in politics The initiative follows last week’s mass shooting in Christchurch New Zealand in which a self proclaimed white nationalist opened fire on worshippers at two mosques. Fifty people were killed. The suspect has been charged with murder.
President Donald Trump Message on Nowruz, 2019
President Donald Trump Message on Nowruz, 2019
I send my warmest wishes to those in the United States and around the world observing the ancient holiday of Nowruz.
Nowruz is a special time of thanksgiving and celebration for many across western and central Asia and especially in Iran to gather and reflect on the blessings of the previous year as they prepare with a renewed spirit of optimism for the coming of spring Sadly the Iranian people are once again unable to share fully in the joy of this occasion. This year as they have each year for the past four decades they mark the arrival of spring under the heavy burden of the oppression of their country’s ruthless and corrupt regime.The Iranian people desire to reclaim their country’s proud history expressive culture and rightful place on the world stage. They deserve a government that is accountable to them and that treats them with dignity and respect The Iranian regime, however rejects these principles. As a result every day life for the people of Iran is tragically at odds with the true meaning of Nowruz, which is Farsi for new day and carries tremendous hope for a day when good triumphs over evil and sorrow gives way to joy.
Why white nationalist terrorism is a global threat
Why white nationalist terrorism is a global threat
HE SEEMS to have been a classic “lone wolf”. As far as police can tell, the man who murdered 50 worshippers and critically wounded nine more, at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15th was not part of any organisation. The 28-year old Australian Brenton Tarrant claimed to have developed his violent beliefs on his own surfing the internet and visiting Europe.He bought his weapons himself He honed his skills at a suburban shooting range. No one there suspected that he was preparing a massacre.
Yet he was part of something much bigger The names and slogans scrawled on his weapons were familiar to extreme white nationalists all around the world but hardly anyone else His ranting internet manifesto The Great Replacement repeated staple far right conspiracy theory that non white and Muslim immigrants in Western countries are invaders ushered by scheming elites tore place ethnic European populations Variants of that once fringe idea are now common not just in social media posts by anonymous wackos but in the speeches of elected politicians from Hungary to Iowa The Christchurch killer acted alone but followed a terrifying trend.
Anti-racism activist Tim Wise: How white privilege shaped the college admissions scandal
Anti-racism activist Tim Wise: How white privilege shaped the college admissions scandal
As revealed last week in a federal indictment, at least 33 affluent individuals, including television actors, corporate executives and bankers, allegedly engaged in crimes such as bribery and fraud in an effort to buy admission for their children into America’s most prestigious universities. These included Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, Wake Forest and other schools.
At a press conference last Tuesday, Andrew Lelling, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, described the defendants as “a catalog of wealth and privilege. … They include, for example, the CEOs of private and public companies, successful securities and real estate investors, two well-known actresses, a famous fashion designer and the co-chairman of a global law firm.”
A Week On From The Christchurch Attack, Solidarity Is The Antidote To Race Hate
A Week On From The Christchurch Attack, Solidarity Is The Antidote To Race Hate
Today is one week since the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand. Once more Muslims and Jews the world over will assemble in prayer. Grief and recovery are surely partly about marking minutes, hours, days, weeks and years. It is also I think, about forging something new, strong, positive and enduring after the devastation.
My mother died suddenly in late July of 2011. It was the same weekend that a “far-right extremist” (for want of better imperfect words) slew dozens of young Labour activists in Norway. Before the killer was identified, much of the public and media speculation had assumed a ‘jihadist’, ‘Islamist’ or even (in that obvious abuse of language) ‘Islamic’ attack.
City officials consider housing discrimination ban
City officials consider housing discrimination ban
Providence officials are considering an ordinance that would ban landlords from refusing people with housing vouchers.
The proposal introduced to City Council Thursday would specifically prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to people with “any lawful source of income.”
Councilwoman Rachel Miller says the goal is to end discrimination based on income from public assistance.
Miller says owner-occupied properties with three units or less would be exempt.
It is unclear whether the city could impose penalties to those who violate the ban.
Providence officials are considering an ordinance that would ban landlords from refusing people with housing vouchers. The proposal introduced to City Council Thursday would specifically prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to people with “any lawful source of income.” Councilwoman Rachel Miller says the goal is to end discrimination based on income from public assistance. Miller says owner-occupied properties with three units or less would be exempt. It is unclear whether the city could impose penalties to those who violate the ban.
