I’ve been following this heartwrenching story closely. The Servanos have been granted a 60 day extension while they continue to fight to keep their family together. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the hope continues to flow in and eventually turns into citizenship for the Servanos. Read more here.
Call for Women’s Right on HIV/AIDS
Filipina Takes Action; Frannie Richards Up Against Fil-Am H&M Lawyer
She’s the women who is bringing up charges against H&M for discrimination a few month ago. After encountering an H&M associate with a slew of racist and sexist comments, Richards has taken action.
H&M has now recruited a Filipino lawyer Joseph J. Centeno, to represent their case. Centeno, a partner with Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP in Philadelphia, is – GET THIS – Commissioner to the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission. He is friggin’ in charge of enforcing anti-discrimination ordinances and HE’S THE ONE REPRESENTING H&M.
I’m trying not to drop f-bombs, but WHAT THE —- IS THIS?
So the case of Filipina vs. H&M and Filipino lawyer is set.
I can officially say that this disgusts me to the bone.
Centeno – This is a slap in the face to Frannie Richards and to many Filipinos everywhere.
Asian Women Targeted in Sexual Assault Attacks
In Seattle, four womyn have come forward saying they have been sexually assaulted and the assaults have occurred in a bus stop. As the police describe the attacker as growing more and more bold – he first began touching woman and is now grabbing them and forcing them to the ground – they are cautioning women in certain areas who use the bus to be extra weary. All of the survivors are Asian American womyn.
My beef, once again, with sexual assault is that law enforcement and media always end with a Be Careful Ladies! message. What if these womyn – Asian or not – do not have the luxury of options or trying to be more careful than they already are? Or maybe this is an assault on the rights of womyn – Asian or not – to use public transportation without fear of being raped or her body being violated? How about, instead, the message be
WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS FORM OF RACE BASED VIOLENCE
How about we write, “We will not silence or persuade women into altering their lives out of fear of a sexual predator,” instead of spreading cautionary tales and hoping more womyn come forward?
We will not be silent. We will not be afraid.
Helen Zia on Women of Color and Feminism
Taken from an interview with the the indomitable Helen Zia, here are more offerings in the journey of addressing the question, “What is feminism?”
“Feminism is not a racist ideology. If someone claims to be a feminist but exhibits exclusionary behavior and is reluctant to change–we all have prejudices, so I’m not holding feminists to a higher level–I expect them to change. What I say to women of color and other young feminists or womanists is this: there is no Women’s Movement, capital W, capital M. There are women’s movements, plural.
And those movements are alive and well in communities of color. Many of the strongest voices in our communities of color are women. We carry our communities on our backs. With or without the label, we’re there. To say that women of color are not interested in equality for women is just not true.
But many women of color have had negative experiences with individual, white, so-called feminists or with organizations and institutions within a feminist framework. I’ve had negative experiences. But we accomplish much more together than separately. I don’t throw out the notion of feminism because of the negatives. We all have to work on these negatives. We cannot sum up a movement based on individual experiences.”
This woman is as disarming in person as she is in her words. Trust me.
Why Women’s Studies, Full Frontal Feminism, and Feminism Deserve Conversation
Sylvia!
Sylvia is back and oozing with insight.
If you are even remotely interested in learning about the experience of one brilliant women of color, lawyer to be, read HERE. She tackles Women Studies, Whiteness, and mainstream feminism.
My rating (on a scale of 1-5):
5 Cheers for this post
Geographically Challenged?
There’s some statistic how 33% or something Americans can’t find the US on the map.
It’s another known fact that American children are also among the most poorly educated IN THE WORLD when it comes to world geography.
I’m not saying I’m that much better. Here’s a fun quiz for the weekend to test your world geography and I cannot get to level six. I know I’m not a moron, but I feel like a moron.
I will now never forget where New Zealand’s most famous cities are located.
Consider this my lame contribution to heighten “traveler’s IQ.”
Fun for the weekend: Try it!
Santa’s Little Helpers
While we were home for Thanksgiving, Suzi, one of my sisters-in-law, asked me to take Christmas portraits of my niece and nephews. Always ready to practice my photography skills, I agreed.
This one says it all.
Out of over 300 photos, only a handful came out clear. It was pretty stressful because the kids were hungry, tired, and hot, but I think Nick had a harder time dealing with it as he stood behind me trying to help. Regardless, they came out GREAT, but this one made me laugh the most. My favorite style of photography is photojournalism – pictures that catch the moment, unposed. This one says everything about how the shoot went.
(left to right) Zach is 2, Jesse is 1, Morgan is 9.
SO CUTE!
God’s People, Just Not God’s Poet
Nick and I pray a lot.
Each morning, we roll out of bed, stumble into the morning, and gather our life forces to tackle another Boston day of job, work, study, people….life. You know it, you do it, too.
Just before I head off to work (three flights of stairs to my office) and Nick meanders toward BC for class, we gather each other up, sit on the couch and pray.
We pray for strength to get through each day; in gratitude for our many blessings. We ask that God keeps our friends and family safe in all of their endeavors and throw in a few extra special intentions as well.
We also take turns leading prayer. Once we sit, I extend a finger and poke Nick in the shoulder and say, “YOU. Go,” signaling that it’s his turn to lead. We both have days where we are more eloquent, when we know exactly what to say and the other is moved with grace and spirit.
However, yesterday, Nick’s prayer took a different sort of a twist…
Thank you, Lord for this day. We ask that you continue to guide us in all that we do and that we are always aware of your love, your Spirit, and forgiveness. Lord, we thank you for all of our blessings, this day and everyday. It is a blessing to think about starting a family, while others are wondering where they are going to sleep tonight. It is a blessing to have options about what vocations we want, while others do not have enough to eat. It is a blessing to wonder about the course of our lives while others, uh,…others worry about getting killed by their neighbors. We thank you for everything. Amen.
Midway I ducked my face into Nick’s armpit but my shoulders were already shaking.
N: What?
L: -unable to speak-
N: What?!
L: “….WHILE OTHERS WORRY ABOUT GETTING KILLED BY THEIR NEIGHBORS?”
I was laughing so hard I couldn’t even breathe.
N: Why’s that funny?
L: You think that many people in this world are worrying about getting gunned down by their next door neighbor?
N: Well, that shows how wide your perspective is – I was thinking about the people in Darfur!
L: I am not insensitive to global issues, I was just stuck in the US-based context of prayer. I was limiting myself to thinking about our own country. Yes, you are right. People in Darfur worry about their safety relative to that of their neighbors.
N: It’s true!
L: I know. It’s just semantics. “…worry about getting killed by the neighbors…” That’s just some serious morning prayer.
"The Anti-Feminist Manifesto," by Aaminah Hernandez
To me, as a radical feminist of color, I support individuals where I find truth and inspiration. Agreement is not a prerequisite. In fact, the more thoughtful and engaging the argument- regardless of stance – the more intriguing I find it.
Testament to the part of me that forever genuflects before Truth, I post words that I find beautiful, even if I whole-heartedly disagree. With that, here is a strongly written post by Aaminah Hernandez about her anti-feminist identity.
Why I am Not a Feminist, or “My Anti-Feminist Manifesto” 26 11 2007
Preface: I am not at all in this manifesto saying that other women should not use the terms “feminist” or “womanist” or any other term that they choose to own and identify by. I have great respect for many Muslim women who call themselves “Muslim feminists” and for many non-Muslim women of color who self-identify as feminist etc. I am not trying to in any way degrade these women. This manifesto is not about them, but about how I self-identify. Because I seek the right to identify myself by my own terms, I fully respect their right to identify themselves as they see fit as well.
My Anti-Feminist Manifesto
1. Being a woman, and being a woman of color, and being a Muslim, I choose to not be a feminist or in any way have the term feminist applied to my person, my choices, my thoughts, my writings or my art. I reserve the right to self-identify as I see fit and to define myself in relation to my culture and my ideals. I do not wish to take on the terminology of another’s movement nor bend it or re-invent it to suit my own.
a. As a Muslim, I believe that Islam is the answer for everything. I believe that we have been given the tools with which to free ourselves from oppression here on earth, and I do not find those tools lacking.
b. I do not feel compelled to look to other cultures to find the answers to my problems. Feminism as it began in a movement by and for middle and upper class white women offers me nothing. It is not my desire to take their movement and somehow prove that my movement is the same. It is not. Theirs has its role in their lives, and mine is different.
c. As a woman of color and as a Muslim, I choose to rely upon my own cultural interpretations. This means that while others may think something in my lifestyle is oppressive, I am free to choose what I feel oppressed by and not to agree with outsiders’ application of the term. For example, while many well-meaning women of color would like to champion my right as a Muslim woman to lead prayers, that is not something I need or want. This is a “right” that they feel I need because it is in tune with their own lifestyle but it is not a right I desire.
2. I reserve the right to say that my writing and art is not feminist and that I don’t care to have it limited to such terms and conditions as feminism defines.
a. My writing and art belongs to me. I feel no shame in defining it by my own terms and not considering it feminist, womanist or in keeping with any particular movement.
b. While others may be inspired by it and relate it to their feminism or other movement, I do not feel compelled to limit myself to their terms.
c. I reserve the right to publish my writing as I see fit. I doubt it will ever appear in avowedly “feminist” publications or anthologies because that is not the crowd I prefer to engage nor something I care to align myself with.
3. I refuse to participate in the discussion that expects all women to be proud to identify as feminist, to challenge the “white” notions of what feminist thought is or is not, or to tell other women of color that they are unaware of their role and the oppression they are under because they do not self-identify as feminist.
a. I am an intelligent woman who is fully aware of the effects of colonialization and oppressions upon my peoples and upon myself. I am not ignorant of how I am used by those who wish to further their own cause, nor am I ignorant of how others see me or attempts to keep me down.
b. I do not need other women of color to “save” me any more than I need white women or men to do so. While I engage with other women and support them to do what they need to do for their own improvement, I expect them to support me to do what I need to do for mine. By support, I mean “stand back and let me do my thing”. The best support we can offer each other is to be there with requested resources when asked but not to attempt to take over or impose our own ideas upon another.
c. I am capable of thinking and speaking for myself. I do not ask anyone to speak on my behalf or to make my speech more palatable to others. I say it like it is – you choose whether you want to listen or not.
4. Why I despise the feminist movement and do not care to be a part of it.
a. I am tired of women of color being pitted against men of color because of this mis-notion that allegiance to other women is all that matters.
b. I do not need to make the movement mine. It’s not mine, it never will be mine. I have my own movement that is in line with my Islamic beliefs and values. Western style feminism, by any name it is called, is a secular order that seeks to wipe out my spirituality and force me to selfishly over-emphasize women to the detriment of others.
c. I do not feel the need to make myself a part of something where I am not wanted. It is my personal belief that women of color trying to stuff ourselves into the feminist movement does us an injustice. We do not need to broaden the acceptance of our experience into formal feminist theory. We do not need to make feminism “our own”. We can create our own revolutions, not jump on the bandwagon of that of another and then cry when we are pushed off.
d. I am not academic, have never “studied” feminist theory and do not even care to know most of the ridiculous terminology and theories that abound. I know my reality as a poor, Muslim, Native American woman in the U.S.A. I don’t need fancy theories to explain it. I don’t need my experiences to be supported by the experiences of others or to be validated by academia.