Social Justice Link roundup, plus more on Ferguson

Tony Thompson

13 per cent of Ferguson cops have faced excessive force lawsuits

Demonstrations were sparked by the August 9 death of black teenager Michael Brown, who was shot six times by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who remains under investigation.

According to the Washington Post, six other Ferguson officers – five current and one former – have been named in civil rights lawsuits alleging the use of excessive force.

That means 13 per cent of the 53-strong department has faced such investigations, compared to a national average of around 0.5 per cent of all police officers, as calculated by the Cato Institute’s National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project.

 

 

 

 

Two white protesters arrived in Ferguson with pro-police signs

One of the two protesters held a sign supporting that shitweasel Darren Wilson.

The article says the police were on hand to rush the woman pictured above to safety, as it looked like the situation was becoming tense.

Curiously, one person tweeted this:

 

 

 

 

White People Educating White People About Racism So PoC Don’t Have To

(excerpt)

Racism 101: Prejudice vs. Power
Any time a white person uses their own personal experience of prejudice (or a fabricated one) to demonstrate how whites suffer from racism, there is an underlying tendency to believe individual experience reflects broader social and structural realities. This is not the case. Just as one white person who was harassed by a person of color does not prove “reverse” racism, one Black president does not prove the end of racism. For the few white folks with hurt pride, there are thousands more with staggering social comfort who make hurt pride an exception to the status quo; for the few POC with class/political privilege, there are thousands more with staggering social oppression who make this privilege an exception to the status quo. How much white privilege does it require to think one painful confrontation is equally damaging as living with the daily reality of racism? And how much white privilege does it require to think one isolated incident, or even several isolated incidents, are equivalent to the constant violence of racism?

 

 

Incidentally, I like the disclaimer:

Disclaimer: white folks do not experience racism, the moderator and future contributors are no exception, and that isn’t what this blog is about. No one is here to discuss the experience of racism–only POC can do that. I am limited to creatively engaging the social reality of whiteness and what white privilege means in personal, political, and institutional terms. I will regularly use personal narrative and analysis to do so, seeing as my stories are the only ones I am entitled to tell.

 

 

14 signs we live in a rape culture

A rape culture is one in which sexual violence is the norm, and everyday practices normalise and even excuse rape. It’s a culture where instead of teaching people not to rape, we teach people not to be raped.

I’m going to list a few of the 14 signs, but please read the whole article.

7. Beliefs that reports are fake might be undermining efforts to prosecute rape

In contrast the CPS say false rape claims are “very rare” but they have warned that a “misplaced belief” such accusations are common may undermine efforts to investigate and prosecute such crimes. Rape crisis Scotland say false allegations are at about 3 per cent – the same for any other crime.

 

8. Richard Dawkins

 

Richard Dawkins caused outrage last month on twitter when he tried to rank which form of rape was worse – “date rape” or “stranger rape” – while making a logical syllogism.

 

12. Judge Mary Jane Mowat

Retired judge Mary Jane Mowat said this week that rape conviction rates will not improve until women “stop getting so drunk”. Rather than the onus to convict criminals being on the police, or the Crown Prosecution Service – or rapists not to rape – Judge Mowat said it was women who need to change: “It is an inevitable fact of it being one person’s word against another, and the burden of proof being that you have to be sure before you convict”, she said.

“I will also say, and I will be pilloried for saying so, but the rape conviction statistics will not improve until women stop getting so drunk. I’m not saying it’s right to rape a drunken woman, I’m not saying for a moment that it’s allowable to take advantage of a drunken woman.”

 

 

 

British woman ‘being held captive so her family can cure her gayness’

Christina Fonthes, 27, a translator and LGBT activist from Manchester, visited Kinshasa with her mother and younger sister on 11 August. But shortly into a stay with her aunt, friends say, her passport was taken by her mother. She was told the family wanted to keep her in Congo so that her sexuality could be “fixed”.

Ms Fonthes’ partner of three years, the BBC sports presenter Jessica Creighton, has been trying to raise awareness of her partner’s plight on Facebook and Twitter. She is now travelling back to the UK from China, where she was covering the Youth Olympics when she heard the news.

 

 

This just frustrates and angers me to no end.  When are we going to be treated like human beings with the right to engage in the relationships we choose without people attempting to force us into cages? That’s what is
happening.  People are trying to drag us into a cage.  The cage of heterosexuality-as if that’s the only possible way humans can express their sexuality.  As if it’s right to attempt to force someone change a fundamental aspect of who they are.  This really makes me want to rage at the world.  That people could work so hard to deny the human rights of others.  I hope this woman manages to escape the clutches of her family as soon as possible.

 

 

This woman’s funny, feminist cartoons are incredible

 

 

 

 

 

On Our Radar – Hatred, Denial, And The ‘Gay But’

 

<

p style=”text-align:center;”> 

{advertisement}
Social Justice Link roundup, plus more on Ferguson

About the author

{advertisement}