Prevention Through Deterrence.

dying at people being outraged like "will should have his award revoked" "how can he do something so violent and outrageous!!" "this is a win to toxic masculinity" lmfaoooo it's a bitch slap y'all so sensitive and the asshole deserved it. if more assholes got bitch slapped when they humiliate women in front of millions of people maybe the world would be a better place.

Rest in peace.

Sacheen Littlefeather has passed away on October 2nd 2022 . While people remember her for her acceptance speech on behalf of Marlon Brando, know that she also ended the media blackout of the Wounded Knee occupation, won an Emmy & co-founded the American Indian AIDS Institute of San Francisco.

Humans, all around the world, love to leave some kind of mark, whether with their hands in caves, writing interesting novels, or creating memes, to show that we were here, we existed and we are telling our story.

A video of the castellers (Catalan tradition of climbing to create human "castles") as seen from above.

Progress; the end to police brutality

  NO. 1

   Since the video of George Floyd’s death went viral on the internet, there have been protests across the world, calling for the policemen in question to not only be fired, but arrested and to serve the maximum in jail, and calling for . The senseless murder and case that follows brings up once again the senseless violence of police brutality and race in America once again. For me personally, seeing another black man be killed in such an egregious manner was...numbing. I also realized that events like this have become normalized for me. I didn’t exactly react because I, as a black woman didn’t know how to react. 

  The anniversary of one of the greatest race massacres in the United States occurred yesterday May 31, the Tulsa race riots, where in 1921, a white mob attacked not only black residents, killing between 30 to 300 black people, but more than 1,400 homes and businesses were burned, and nearly 10,000 people were left homeless. 

      NO. 2

I bring this up because historically, things have not changed in America. Police brutality is still the subject of attacks motivated by race. Throughout several years where we thought cases where black men have been shot and killed by the police would be a slam dunk trial; meaning that the officers involved would be prosecuted and serve the maximum in jail, and yet  the opposite happened, like the Eric Garner, Stephen Clark and Trayvon Martin, and new cases, like #RayshardBrooks and #ElijahMcCain. And yet, those officers in question were acquitted. 

The right to protest is protected by the First Amendment in the Constitution, where all citizens have the right to free speech, freedom of the press and the right to peacefully assemble. I write this because it seems like others don’t fully understand the protests going on now; the people who think that ‘peacefully protesting’ means to passively protest. And to passively protest means to erase the voices of millions in this country who already feel like their voices are not being heard. A great man by the name of Martin Luther King jr. said in his Letter from Birmingham Jail said, ‘’Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.’’

   NO.3

Too many black people have been dying at the hands of police at a dis, and the cause of it is directly tied to historic links of slavery and institutional and systemic racism. We want police to take accountability for the crimes they commit against innocent people. For eight minutes, George Floyd pleaded with the officer who had his knee on his neck. All officers need to uphold the responsibility of ‘to serve and protect’. If fifteen bad policemen are on the force, and there are 1300 good officers who do nothing to check those fifteen officers, then there are 1,315 bad police officers.           

I believe that these protests are just the tipping point, as people around the globe now are fed up with the injustice. Racism comes in various different forms, and it’s our generations time to stand up and acknowledge that these brutal acts have got to end, and that goes for anyone whose job is in law enforcement, medical fields, politics, teachers, fashion, entertainment, sports, or media, etc. All lives do matter, but until black people are treated like actual citizens in this country, then that’s a false and inconsistent statement, since it is meant to derail the black lives matter movement. Inequities still exist in this country, and pretending not to see it is just as wrong as those who are actively racist. We owe it to ourselves, and for the men, women and children who were killed over the years at the hands of police brutality, to not only research our public figures, especially in politics, and hire the ones who have our best interest at heart as a nation, but to enact new laws and bring about everlasting change.

Every last protestor who feels this is wrong, that innocent people are dying must vote. Voting sixty years ago used to be for the privileged, and now we all have that right to do so. The black lives matter movement was started by black women who feel action must be met. Black people deserve the same respect as any other human being, and the fact that it took two weeks of protesting and looting for that police officer to be arrested even though his death was video recorded is despicable, and the fact that it took even longer for prosecutors to arrest all the officers who were present for the death and didn’t help Floyd at all showed that widespread and global outrage was the only way justice was going to be served. 

So what are some solutions to this crisis? How can police officers gain the trust of their communities back? Done are the days where senseless killings are being swept under the rug, accustomed to a ‘few bad apples’. There must be stronger requirements for police officers and tougher training so that this doesn’t happen again. There is always going to be lawlessness, of course. But if white protestors can assemble on the streets of Congress with rocket launchers and AR-15’s during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis so that they can open up their businesses without being tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets, then black people must also protest for their rights. 

Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger. What got you here won’t get you there.

Cool book

Currently reading this charmingly illustrated debut novel by Will Ottley. Mountain Garden is an inspiring fable crafted with care and the beauty of nature in mind. So far it’s a refreshing read featuring the themes of love, bravery, and intuition.

The World vs. Palestine

You’ve probably heard or have already known about what is currently happening in Palestine. For those that don’t, the simple answer is the ongoing difficult questions about the ownwersip of land. Most people in the U.S call it a conflict or a ‘war’. But the genuine problem is that Palestine is in constant suffering, foregoing settler colonialism, military occupation, land theft, and ethnic cleansing from their neighbor, Isreal. It makes us ask ourselves why it is important to take a stand against oppression and injustice everywhere, and the scary nature of ‘othering’.

So, what are the arguments that started the deaths of so many Palestinians? From Israel, their argument is that Jerusalem is their homeland, and seeks the return of Jewish authority after 2000 years of being an ineffective exile. They have retained their culture and kept their holy land, Jerusalem, in all that time. Because Jews have kept a presence there for most of history, even if they were the minority, they say they represent the oldest definable group of people/culture still in existence that claim the land, and that all previous occupations and expulsions of their people were unjust, and it is rightfully theirs to return to, even if it means displacing the Palestinians. ‘‘The interactions between the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian [Hammas] including negotiations have always been based on respective political dynamics rather than on a sincere desire to establish peace. Most importantly, these events frustrated the peace negotiations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government. ’’

The Palestinian argument is that the Jews cannot suddenly ‘reclaim’ land when someone else is already living in it. Having relatives living somewhere 2000 years ago doesn't give you the right to take someone else’s home. The Palestinians as they exist today have been living there, close to 1300 years. Before the creation of ‘Isreal’ only 73 years ago, Palestinian Christians, Jews, and Muslims, peacefully co-existed in Palestine. The plight of the Jews, who have suffered in Europe, is not the Palestinians fault, as they have never tried to genocide them. There have been tensions, but for the most part, they have lived peacefully side by side, until those same Jews decided that they wanted control over their land. The Palestinian Christian community is the oldest Christian community in the world. According to the Congressional Research Service, ‘‘Israeli military occupation has been supported by U.S aid with 3.8 billion a year paid for by U.S tax dollars since 2016 for the next ten years. It is also supported by other countries who strike to oppress other small groups and countries like Canada, Australia, France, and Belgium. For FY2021, the Trump Administration requested $3.3 billion in FMF for Israel and $500 million in missile defense aid to mark the second year of the MOU. The Administration also requested $5 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance humanitarian funding for migrants to Israel.’’

Because Isreal has the support of these dominating countries like the United States and other colonial powers like the U.K that this will go on. For them to call out ‘Isreal’, they would have to start to answer questions about their origins and existence for the people they have colonized. So for those who believe it is just a ‘religious conflict’? It is not. A conflict means there is equal footing, the same way war would have two groups fighting equally. The Israeli government is spreading misinformation about its own settler-colonial existence, in order to conceal the fact that they ethnically cleansed and massacred over 540 Palestinian towns and villages in 1948, when they were previously called Zionist terrorists, and their village names replaced with new Hebrew placed names. Isreal is responsible for over 7.2 million Palestinian refugees and denies them their legal right of return. Saying that it’s a simple ‘religious conflict’ denies Palestine their right to liberation, justice, and freedom.

Free Palestine

This is your reminder that Mahsa Amini's Kurdish name was Jina. The violence she faced wasn't just due to her being a woman, it was also because she was Kurdish. Kurdish people face ethnic cleansing and violence across the SWANA region and Turkey. Kurdish people are not allowed to use their Kurdish names under these regimes.

She wasn't allowed to use her real name in life, please at least grant her the mercy of using her true name in death.

Her name was Jina.

The Assassination of MLK!

  NO. 1

 Martin Luther King. Jr, the famous civil rights leader, and the clergyman was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968; he was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he ‘’died’’.  James Earl Ray, a fugitive who had escaped Missouri State Penitentiary was arrested in London at Heathrow Airport, extradited back to the United States, and charged with the crime, where he pleaded guilty on March 10, 1969, and sentenced to 99 years in Tennessee State Penitentiary. He made several attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and be tried by a jury but was unsuccessful. He died in prison in 1998. 

 The King family do not believe he was murdered at the hands of this common criminal, but that the F.B.I and C.I.A had their hands involved, especially the head of the F.B.I, director J. Edgar Hoover, the Mafia, and Memphis police, as alleged by Lloyd Jowers, the owner of Jim Grill, a restaurant near the Lorraine Motel where the civil rights leader was shot. They believed that Ray was a scapegoat. In 1999, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jowers for $10 million. During closing arguments, their attorney asked the jury to award damages of $100, to make the point that ‘it was not about the money.’ During the trial, both sides presented evidence alleging a government conspiracy. The government agencies accused could not defend themselves or respond because they were not named as defendants. 

Based on the evidence, the jury concluded Jowers and others were ‘’part of a conspiracy to kill King’’ and awarded the family of $100. The allegations and the findings of the Memphis jury were later rejected by the U.S Department of Justice in 2000 due to lack of evidence. ‘’The brutal death of the civil rights leader elicited a political reaction manifest in social disturbances across the nation. Numerous riots and lesser civil disturbances occurred as a direct aftermath of the killing. Several explanations for the disturbances appear obvious. The best--known civil rights leader in the nation had been murdered. For many, King had become a symbol of progressive change in policies concerning race relations and poverty. The killing also occurred within the context of increased interracial tension. More widespread rioting, looting, and burning--although less personal violence--took place in the prior summer than at any other time since the Civil War. Finally, diverse modes of political participation among African-Americans had emerged on a fairly massive scale. [I] argue that the assassination was a stimulus that led individuals to an emotional disengagement from the realm of political behavior. What I term political disengagement occurs when normally positive and latent diffuse sentiments toward the political system and its elements become negative.’’