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THOUSANDS TO DESCEND ON THE STATE CAPITOL TO PROTEST
CONTROVERSIAL ARIZONA COPYCAT LAWS

Immigrants, students, members of the civil rights community, representatives of labor, faith and business communities, and other everyday Georgians band together to demand Governor Deal commit to veto harmful, anti-immigrant legislation

[Georgia State Capitol] As anger at legislators mounts regarding HB 87 and SB 40, thousands of Georgians from across the state plan to take to the streets to show their opposition to these bills and the law makers who persist in pushing them. Opposition to the bill comes from a broad based constituency who point to clear evidence that the bill will harm Georgia’s economy, kill jobs, encourage racial profiling, and return Georgia to a ‘show me your papers’ state.

WHO: Thousands of representatives of labor, faith-based groups, immigrants, the civil rights community, business leaders, and elected officials
WHAT: A massive rally and protest to defeat all Arizona Copycat Legislation in Georgia
WHERE: Capitol Steps facing Washington Street, Atlanta, GA
WHEN: Thursday, March 24th 11:00am – 2:30pm

• Welcome Drummers begin at 10:00
• Interfaith service begins at 11:00
• Speakers representing the diversity of opposition 12:00 – 2:00

Thanks to Our Endorsers:

Alterna; American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia; American Immigration Lawyers Association–Atlanta Chapter; Am- nesty International-Southern Regional Office; Anti-Defamation League; The Antonini Law Firm; Asian American Legal Advocacy Center, Inc. of Georgia; Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment; Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace; Ave Maria Law Firm; Black Latino Council; Building Locally to Organize for Community Safety; Caminar Latino; Center for Pan Asian Community Services; Chinese Community Federation of Atlanta; Coalicion de Lideres Latinos; Coalition for the People’s Agenda; Cobb Immigrant Alliance; Corso, Kennedy, & Campbell, LLP, Attorneys at Law; Culture Con- nect; Dale, Schwartz and Associates, LLP; Dignidad Inmigrante en Athens; The Diversity Projekt; Feminist Women’s Health Center; Garvish, Orza & Polutan, LLC; Gentle Spirit Christian Church; Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials; Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Georgia Commission on Family Violence; Georgia Detention Watch; Georgia Green Party; Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights; Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition; Georgia Rural Urban Summit; Georgia State Conference NAACP; Georgia Women’s Action for New Direction; Government Contractors Association; Herman, Taylor & Lee Law Firm; Hispanic News Service, Inc.; Human Rights Atlanta; Iglesia Luterana Sagrada Familia; Indigo Girls; International Action Center; International Center of Atlanta; International rescue Committee; Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective; Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia; Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta; Kick Immigration Partners, LLC; The Labor Forum, WRFG 89.3 FM; Lambda Legal; Latin American Association; Latin American and Caribbean Community Center; The Law Office of Kerry E. McGrath, LLC; Marronage Productions, Inc.; Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialist of America; Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless; Mexian-American Coalition; Movement to End Israeli Apartheid-Georgia; 9to5 Association of Work- ing Women; OCA Georgia: Hopes and Aspirations of Asian Pacific Americans; Partnership Against Domestic Violence; Patents & More, Inc; Pinnacle33 Signage Solutions; Plaza Fiesta; Project South; Radio Diaspora, WRFG 89.3 FM; Raksha, Inc.; Real Atlanta Magazine; Refugee Family Services; Refugee Women’s Network; Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta; Revolution Books Atlanta; Rohan Law, PC; Sinsinawa Dominicans of Atlanta; Sis- terLove; SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective; SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW; Southern Center for Human Rights; Southerners on New ground; Students for a Progressive Society, Gainesville State College; Trail of Dreams; Voces Unidas-Statesboro; US Human Rights Network; Women Watch Afrika, Inc.; Ms. Benin Dakar– Gwinnett County; Frank E. McDonald; Ted Brodek; Elisa Covarrubias; Anne Olson; Emily Russell; Rebecca Eileen Zuniga

The Medic recently voiced her disgust over the recent Curve issue, but I could have never imagined how disturbing the issue was until she pulled it out of her bag last weekend. Not that the whole A-Spot article in January’s edition was pathetic enough, but March’s issue takes the cake! (Yeah, I finally learned how to use that saying!)

Now, I know that I am about to rant on a lesbian institution, but give me a minute! On to what has me grumbling! –> Page 11 – “This Is What A Lesbian Looks Like”

Interesting choice of words! I am thankful that not all lesbians look like this! While I dig femmes being represented and getting a shout out, I am baffled at how limited the reflection of queer women are in these pages.  The most recent article about female Olympians took the approach of toning down their masculine edge. (link forthcoming)

I remain baffled at this overwhelming fear of anything even remotely in the butch camp. Kinda ironic given their founder and publisher, no? I am the first to applaud femme empowerment, but am also keenly aware and appreciative that lesbians and other queer-identified women come in many wonderful shapes and sizes and colors.  Curve should be taking it upon itself to make policy about what a lesbian does or doesn’t, should or shouldn’t look like. Just sayin!

Does Curve really want to be the new Cosmo? If I want to read Cosmo…..I will read Cosmo. Curve was always my go-to mag for its pulse on the lesbian community. Apparently that ship has sailed.

The bottom line…I no longer feel represented in the pages of Curve! Not visually, culturally, socially, or intellectually. Not even a little bit. As a queer woman of color I feel very much invisible within the lesbian community to begin with. I expect mainstream society to balk at me, to accuse me of misleading people into assuming I am straight, to question my orientation because, according to them, I don’t fit the part. I can take that on. It barely hurts anymore. I have grown a tougher skin.

However, the sting is sharper from within our community. I know not everything is about me! I do try to tell myself that from time to time. However, I surely am not the only other queer woman of color out there who feels under-represented (or not at all) within the covers of LGBT mags. When the “best selling lesbian magazine” claims to have its finger on the pulse of the lesbian community (as if it is some monolith) and then cherry picks which narratives to reflect the lesbian experience, it makes a statement of what they view is truly reflective of the community.

Just sayin……

I learned something new today about Patti’s program. Not only are these young parents graduating from high school at phenomenal rates, but many go on to lead incredible lives. Two of her former students addressed the Board tonight – one is graduating community college and will soon enroll in a nursing program, and the other is currently working at Jefferson.

Well done! Thank you for your comments (on and off site) and your prayers!

The School Board will most likely need to re-address funding issues surrounding New Beginnings sometime during the new fiscal year.  Seeking alternative funding streams is most likely going to be a necessity, since the long-term repercussions of tonight’s cut in capacity will not go unnoticed by the community in need of these services.

ACTION ITEM! Please keep your eyes open for private (or government) grants that will fund direct services and/or advocacy for teen pregnancy/parenting.

On a side note – tonight was the first time in years that I really felt a part of a community. Perhaps it was the mission-orientedness of it all. My hunch, it was the people. Several Wellians came out in solidarity and support of Patti and her kids. Some of us went to Rita’s afterwards to celebrate. Yeah, Evan – I finally had Rita’s after more than 7 years.

While the media has focused on the scores of Americans who have or are on the verge of losing their jobs, pension plans, life’s savings and homes, there is an even bigger storm on the horizon. This financial crisis is transforming the scope and character of poverty in ways many Americans have not seen in their lifetime, certainly not those of my generation.  For the most part, Millenials have lived in an environment of economic prosperity. Most of us were too young to comprehend the the economic pumps of the mid/late 1990s.

Nevertheless, recent graduated are faced with mounds of school debt and few, adequate job prospects,

The average debt of students graduating with loans in 2007 jumped to $20,098 – up from $18,976 for those graduating in the previous year, according to the Project on Student Debt, a Berkeley, Calif., advocacy group that tracks student loans.

This year’s graduating class might owe even more as they and their parents borrow more to supplement falling values in their savings plans.

Meanwhile, starting salaries for last year’s graduates haven’t kept pace, growing only 3 percent over the previous year.

While the Federal Government has attempted to reassure students and parents of the availability of credit to pay for school tuition, little effort is put forth to establish fair and reasonable repayment schemes, particularly considering the current job market.

“Why is no one helping our struggling middle class?” I have CNN running most days- background noise if you will, and this question has been posed a total of five times today alone.

Does poverty and financial strife among our mostly suburban, middle class hold more currency than the  lack of housing, adequate food and nutrition, access to health care, mental health counseling, clean clothing, etc., experienced by millions of Americans prior to the present financial meltdown?

Millions of children across this country live without health care, quality education opportunities, and are forced to live in conditions comparable to those in the third world. Yet, it has taken the deterioration of the quality of life for the American middle class for the country to truly wake up.

Local and state governments have failed for decades in adequately addressing issues of adequate housing and health care services, as well as quality education for much of the nation’s working and non-working poor.  These existing conditions are exacerbated by the credit and mortgage crisis, as well as an annual job loss that has far exceeded the 1 million mark.  Over 4 million homeowners are behind in their mortgage payments.  If conditions continue to deteriorate, over 5 million may lose their homes between 2008 an 2010. The current procedures and processes of loan modifications are fundamentally useless for those who lose jobs or have mortgages that are under water.

Rescue missions and soup kitchens across the country are bursting at their seams.  Food banks are seeing record crowds and are unable to service all those coming to them for help.  They are finding it more difficult to find donors due to the financial crunch.  Shelters are unable to house the many families who lose their homes due to foreclosure or job loss.  Families are separated as shelters dedicated to maintaining family units reach and exceed capacity.

Leslie Kaufman recently reported on the plan to reduce New York shelter capacities in all of its burroughs:

The city has a massive municipal shelter system that houses roughly 6,500 homeless individuals every night. But it also has a much more ad-hoc system for street homeless who are highly resistant to institutionalized settings.

That alternative system is composed of eight drop-in centers, which have showers and seats but no beds. From there, homeless men can find one-night beds in churches and synagogues – or, if they can show they’ve been on the street for more than nine months, they can use city-run safe-haven beds. But each night, more than 500 hundred people, on average, end up sleeping in the chairs at the drop-in centers – some by choice and some because there are not enough beds in the faith-based centers.

While we are all feeling the crunch, those of us who are employed can help in several ways that are not overly burdensome to our own wallets.

• donate unused canned goods from your cupboard to a local soup kitchen
• donate your time to a local food bank of soup kitchen. This is also a great family building activity.
• set out non-perishable food donation box at your place of employment or church (Our office allowed everyone who donated a canned good to wear jeans to work the following Friday.)

Poverty in India, China, various regions in Africa, etc. are widely covered.  Yet, America’s poor, whether they live in urban, rural or suburban communities, are practically forgotten.

People living in poverty are more likely to be obese, thereby making diabetes, heart disease, asthma and other such illnesses also more prevalent.  These elements contribute to an overall shorter life expectancy for individuals living in poverty.

Sanjay Gupta, resident M.D. on CNN, recently hosted a segment on urban health and obesity.  He highlighted the fact that many grocers refuse to open chains in poverty stricken areas. He makes the indirect link that high poverty areas are also high crime areas.  The result – residents have little to no access to fresh fruits and vegetables, integral components to quality nutrition.  Yet, there is a fast food chain at every restaurant. Most corner stores boast chips, cookies and regular sodas. Most of the canned goods are extremely high in sodium.

Several school districts across the country have removed vending machines and revamped their lunch menus in order to address childhood obesity.  However, little headway can be made if parents are unable to provide their children with healthy and nutritious foods at home.  In fact, in some instances, parents have criticized the removal of vending machines.

It will be interesting to see how the new Obama Administration tackles the national health care crisis, particularly in poverty stricken areas. Issues of nutrition and obesity directly impact the larger health care crisis and vise versa.

In “48 years after JFK became President…”, Bild Online draws parallels between the Obamas as the new First Family and Kennedy era.  <Much of his success and popularly is reduced to pop culture attributes in this particular article – “he is cool”, “he is enchanting”….”he is from Hawaii.”

The Times of London ran “Black Pope could follow Barack Obama’s election” says US archbishop” based on comments by Daniel Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta.  Obama’s victory has been seen as not just a victory for black Americans, but a victory for all of humanity by the Roman See.

PressTV released an impressive roll call of the various World Leaders who congratulated Obama on his victory and in which South African President Kgalema Motlanthe called Obama’s presidency a coup for the entire African Diaspora.

An article in Deutsche Welle expresses Germany’s best wishes to Obama. It also indicated  “Doubts of Obama’s Green Committement”. The German government hopes that the Obama administration will signal a new direction in American climate change policies, however, indicates that the climate will take a backstage to the economic crisis.

Several interesting headlines from newspapers across Germany: Neue Westfaelische Zeitung “Guten Morgen, Mr. President!”; Die Presse “Obamas Amerika”; and Die Welt “Obama Makes History” and today’s “Michelle Obama wird eine politische First Lady” (Michelle Obama will be a Political Fist lady)

Join me on this historic election night for voting results coverage! I will be a panelist with the Black Women in Europe liveblog coverage from Election Day locations throughout the Philadelphia area.

I will give my take on the events and coverage from various polling locations in Philadelphia, as well as from the 5th Ward Obama Campaign Office in Chinatown and the Center City West Obama Campaign Office.  I will end up at the Election Results Warch Party at Rum Bar at 20th and Walnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia. Get perspectives from sisters in various countries throughout the world on Barack Obama’s historic race for the White House.

IMPORTANT:

Please make sure that you know where your Polling Location is. This is absolutely CRITICAL!

Find out here: Committee of Seventy or call 1-866-268-8603. Polls will be open from 7 AM to 8 PM.

Also, make sure that you bring two forms of identification – one should be a UTILITY BILL and BOTH should indicate your voter registration information!

Don’t forget to bring a cup of your favorite java or tea, a snack and LOTS of patience!  If you are able to, please post about your polling location experiences on Twitter!

I am liveblogging the “Don’t ‘Iraq’ Iran: Finding a Peaceful Resolution to the Iran Crisis” seminar co-sponsored by the Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition and Villanova University.

As the Bush Administration continually turns to military action as its fundamental tool of diplomacy, scores of Americans are coming together to discuss alternative means of cross-cultural dialogue in an effort to find more viable solutions to our world’s problems.

Join me as I liveblog the Don’t ‘Iraq’ Iran round table discussion this Thursday, October 23, from 7:30 pm EST to 9:00 pm EST.

Since the event listing is buried on the Villanova website – at the bottom of the list, just above the “Rock for Darfur concert – I am glad that I received an invitation through CAIR Philly. Otherwise I might have missed it altogether.

Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America. Through media relations, lobbying, education and advocacy, CAIR puts forth an Islamic perspective to ensure the Muslim voice is represented. In offering this perspective, CAIR seeks to empower the American Muslim community and encourage their participation in political and social activism. (from the website)

Several local bloggers who are interested in interfaith initiatives have raised interested in joining me for the liveblog. I will provide updates as I receive confirmations. I look forward to your comments during the liveblog!

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