where does it stop?

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc&sc2=news&sc3&id=108755

On a day that civil rights and equality earned a victory as Prop 8 was overturned in California, it is sickening that such an act of intolerance could take place in the United States.

The victim was just a baby. He was only 17 months old, for crying out loud. Nothing could have justified physically hurting someone that young, much less violence that took his life. Pedro Jones, who was entrusted with care of the baby, said he beat the child to "make him act like a boy instead of a little girl." Although Jones did not specify what exactly that behavior entailed, it is heartbreaking that "effeminate" traits are considered so inferior that a baby had to die for America's protection of hypermasculinity.

Someone's comment on Facebook:
"fuck this foo
and the kids stupid momma, she should know not to trust your kids to someone that is not their daddy, DUMB BITCH"

This statement does not help anyone. Blaming the mother will not bring her child back, nor does it shift blame from Jones. You do not need to be someone's biological father to be capable of love. In part, isn't that what the fight against Prop 8 is about? Marriage rights, adoption rights, the right to love freely, justice and equality and all that rainbow sunshiney goodness. It's not wrong or stupid to trust your kids with a partner who is not their biological parent.

It is wrong to take advantage of that trust. Trust is humanizing and beautiful. It's believing in someone, a two-way street where trust has to be reciprocated with a commitment to follow through. Jones didn't do that. He murdered a child for.. what? To assert his own masculinity? To save society from the social ills of an individual who didn't follow traditional gender roles? The mother is no less of a mother for thinking she could trust him. It pains me deeply that some people would call her a bitch when she had no idea something like this could or would happen.

The irony of it all? "I’m sorry," Jones said. "That’s my baby. I loved him to death."

Evidently, he meant it.

The Real World, What would you do if tomorrow the world was fixed?

Before I graduated last year I felt like I was ready to take on the world. I was so looking forward to being miss nonprofit lady and riding my bike to work everyday, shopping at farmer's markets and generally doing my part to make the world a better place. After I graduated I felt tired and overwhelmed. I took a break by moving out to the country and chillaxing for the summer. I finally felt ready to get back at it and applied for some jobs.

The first interview I went to was for a generic environmental group here in Santa Cruz and well we didn't quite see eye to eye on why blaming ocean pollution on "Hispanics" was not and effective way to fight the trash island.

Job interview two, a phone interview, went really well and everything was going great until I realized that I love my country life and this is not going to work out because she didn't understand I have serious time commitments that I cannot miss or ask a friend to do-my goat needs to be milked everyday at 7am and pm.

I always imagined that I was going to be the next Julia Butterfly or Van Jones bridging the issues of environmentalism and communities of color together to build holistic meaningful solutions. But now I feel that my place is here in the woods. I feel a little guilty about this because I read the news of all the horrible things going on in the world and I still try to spread the gospel of social justice but using a toilet now just doesn't feel right. Rising and setting with the sun feels right, drinking fresh goats milk everyday and shearing my sheep and making my own chicken stock from my chickens feels right and I want to share this feeling with other people. I really believe that the system we live in cant be fixed because its based on oppression and continuous growth and all the other shit like racism and sexism that are caught up in it. I wanted to spread the word and inspire people that another world is possible but I never had any alternatives. I used to feel like this was just a hobby but now I feel like this is what I want the world to look like. Relatively small communities producing their own goods and doing light trading.

I don't expect everyone to return to an agrarian life but think about what you would do if tomorrow the world was justified? What is there still left to do? I don't intend to make this sound preachy, I have just had this on my mind for the last few months and am curios what other people think about this. If we didn't have to work for social justice, what would we work for?

love of all kinds

PNX in the capital

Last Thursday-Sunday, I went to Washington, D.C. for a collegiate leadership conference, hosted by the Japanese American Citizens League, the nation's oldest and largest Asian Pacific American civil rights organization. At a young professionals mixer, APAs [both current college students and college grads] working in D.C. offices came out to network with the 14 conference attendees.

During introductions, one womyn said, "Hi, my name is Monica Thammarath."
Me [thinking] - WAIT, I KNOW THAT NAME.
Monica - "I graduated from UC Berkeley."
Me [thinking] - I KNOW YOU. I REMEMBER YOUR NAME FROM THE PLEDGE BOOK. FINALLY, STAYING UP ALL NIGHT TO MEMORIZE THOSE FREAKING NAMES HAS COME TO FRUITION!!

Well, no, I really just freaked out mentally and didn't have that internal monologue.

My intro
"Hi, my name is Carmen blah blah blah... I think I have the most in common with Monica over there because I also go to Berkeley and we share similar majors. Also, I think we're sisters of the same sorority."

I got to pick her brains during dinner and found out
1) She's Jessica's grandbig.
2) She's currently working with SEARAC [Southeast Asia Resource Action Center] on education policy.
3) She's doing exactly what I want to do when I graduate.

We chatted [well, I listened] about what life in D.C. is like.
Me - Is it hard to transition from the Bay Area to D.C., especially in this weather? *fans self*
Monica - It's really hard. But I realized that it's not about me. It's not about what I want, or how much I miss good Asian food, or how terrible the weather is. It's about something bigger than me. I'm here to be part of a movement.

I almost started crying because that was something I really needed to hear with regard to [possibly] moving away from home after graduation.

Fierce Phi Nu Xi womyn everywhere I go... <3

alumnae ritual

BY TRACY NGUYEN, but because blogpost can be horribly confounding, posted by Carmen. :]
--
So I wrote this poem in June Jordon's Poetry for the People in Spring 2009. I dunno why i never read it to you all....but I finally read it last night at Alumnae Ritual (which was amaaazing and beautiful <3). And mary requested i post the poem. So here it iz! dedicated to the c/o 2010

Title: Greek

these mass produced

overpriced

sweatshop

royal purple

silver lined

greek letters

on black sweatshirt

read

phi

nu

Xi

packaging

stamping

labeling

ME

sorority girl

these four inch block letters

across my chest

dress me

in drunken frat houses

cute pink tops

and short clubbing outfits

before

I even

walk into a room

my jet black hair paints me asian

as my english vernacular releases my american.

my yellow skin

highlights hyphenated identity

a second generation

asian american

model minority

I do math as good as ancestors

and earn straight As

that allow me to pave ways to med school

I silence my voice behind passive hesitations

I speak vietnamese as my native tongue

But I wear greek on my body

this sweatshirt

represses

my

Identity

into

manufactured cottons

of

asian american sorority stereotype

every morning before I get dressed

i hesitate to dress in these purple letters

that perpetuate preconceived

presumptions of

who I am

under

my sweater

but now, I walk into classrooms

daring folks to judge me

i wear my sweater to rallies and

pump fists that speak to justice

to oscar grant

to israel and palestine

and human genocide

as they ask me about phi nu xi

I say:

we rant on blogs about issues

to practice freedoms of speech

encourage momentous movements that

that liberate our minds

revitalize revolutions not to make solutions

but to BE a solution

we attend overpopulated

underresourced classrooms

and uplift minds that otherwise

cannot find

anyone else

who can tell them

yes

you can.

my sisters and I

educate each other

a self-taught curriculum

that teachers in classrooms

cannot give us

empowered as womyn

we define multiculturalism

not only by different skin

eyes

hair

or language

we define multiculturalism

as ONE same passionate blood line
wearing the same sweater

These purple letters do not read

Phi nu xi.

It reads ONE.

elections

Dear world,

Today I sat in an auditorium sardine-packed with other students, all on edge and waiting for the ASUC tabulation results from this year's elections.

Ricardo Gomez and Viola Tang won EAVP and AAVP, respectively, as they should over Student Action candidates campaigning on passive platforms with NO previous experience as a Senator. Moreover, some of their platforms, while laudable in nature, pale in importance compared to more pressing issues facing students, such as the new 2012 admissions policies. These policies have had a muddled nature from the start, with little campus awareness of their implementation and negative effects on student diversity. None of the Student Action executive candidates mentioned this, and for a party who is dedicated to representing "every student, every year," it's ironic that they did not campaign to protect students who are interested in maintaining diversity. In the face of big businesses like a second Subway encroaching on lower Sproul, the tired SA platforms of student safety and improving Greek public relations fall ridiculously flat.

Then came the EVP and President positions, where our amazing CalSERVE candidates, Lean Deleon and Eunice Kwon, endured a heartbreaking loss to Nanxi Liu and Noah Stern.

Let me start with Nanxi. To quote the Daily Cal (and believe me, it pains me greatly to do so), "It would be ludicrous to bring in an EVP who hasn't served as a senator and lacks familiarity with this body, regardless of his or her other worthy qualifications. This is why Student Action candidate Nanxi Liu, despite competent responses to our questions at the forum, is not the best candidate for the job." Described as "coldly efficient," Nanxi simply lacked the institutional experience necessary to fulfill her duties. I guess being part of a business fraternity, Gamma Phi Beta sorority, and a whole litany of other business and engineer-related orgs now serve as a substitute for being grounded in community. Nanxi gives off an air of working for personal advancement instead of using the ASUC as a vehicle for activism and change. SA really needs to start picking candidates with a demonstrated vested interest in organizing and advocacy. Wait, I forgot, that's CalSERVE's job.

Noah. Noah Stern. Forget that the Daily Cal endorsed him for his "presence" and "amiable personality" (read: white, male, straight), while Eunice was accused of just not being a leader. Forget that he thinks the office of the ASUC president should be apolitical. Forget that one of his platforms was to "strengthen the Cal Community by harnessing the dynamic student life and energy on our campus" (I think I just threw up in my mouth). Under allegations of voter fraud, generously offering to vote on behalf of students who were simply too tired or lazy to do so, Noah won and part of the auditorium started chanting his name while CalSERVE folk nearby looked on in silence and disappointment. Did he "steal" the election? I don't know. He won by a larger margin than could be accounted for by logging in with other students' CalNet IDs and voting for them. Do I hope that the judicial council disqualifies him? Absolutely.

But who knows. Maybe he'll just sue the ASUC, like a few of his Student Action cronies did a few years back and assume the presidency in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust.

Berkeley, you let me down. You voted in an EVP and president who clearly have less experience, fewer novel ideas, and less heart than their opponents. Can you make up for this next year? I got acquainted with voter ignorance and apathy this campaign season, so I won't be holding my breath, but from an eternal optimist...

Cal WHAT?!
CalSERVE!

empowerment through spoken word

At last night's sister meeting, Tracy suggested a spoken word/poem/writing exercise to have us check in with ourselves on how we've been feeling lately, whether in regard to the hateful, homophobic, racist acts going on across the UC system or just in our personal lives.

Here are some of the poems we would like to share with you.

[I feel numb
maybe it's the antidepressants
maybe it's my
sometime identity as a
rat in a wheel
or someone banging my
head against a wall
called graduation. And "getting it together."
or the fact that I am
dating someone that seems
totally ambivalent to my presence.
whatever the reason
there is disconnection
I do not feel
as deeply as I have felt
going through the motions
sometimes it's just
like I refer back to emotions
I once had.
Because the world is still fucked up
people keep dehumanizing another
and the planet is still fighting for its life.
My skin is thicker
but what am I shutting out?
and shutting in? I can't delay reality or schedule experiences.
I want the old me back.
-Elise]

[anger.

yup.

that's what i was when i heard about it.

a bullet to the heart.

hmmmmmmm.

ughhhhhhhh.

these motherfuckers!!!!!

what do you mean this is just one incident?!?!?!

black people complain too much?!?!?!?!

'colored people' are ungrateful?!?!?!

racism doesn't exist?!?!?!

really?

reallllyyyy?

reallllyyyyyyyyyy?

you know what?

you. you go educate yourself.

wait, i take that back.

let me school you.

you see all that white privilege you got on?

you know what? nevermind. you won't understand.

because you're just like fish swimming everyday not even thinking twice about that water keeping you alive.

you know what that water keep you alive is huh, fish?

that's ME.

i'm that mothafuckin' water.

MY people.

OUR communities.

you are NOTHING without me.

nothing without my community!

nothing without people of color!

ha
-Amaris]

[“Why am I compelled to write?... Because the world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. By writing I put order in the world, give it a handle so I can grasp it. I write because life does not appease my appetites and anger... To become more intimate with myself and you. To discover myself, to preserve myself, to make myself, to achieve self-autonomy. To dispell the myths that I am a mad prophet or a poor suffering soul. To convince myself that I am worthy and that what I have to say is not a pile of shit... Finally I write because I'm scared of writing, but I'm more scared of not writing.”

-Gloria Anzaldua

you are all my safe place.

my borderland.

-Tracy]

["Our work takes a lot of programming and organizing. And it's not just enough to program. You need money to program, but you gotta have heart to organize. And I've never seen more heart."
-Nhi Tran

I've never agreed more to a statement - that you've really gotta have a lot of heart and dedication to be truly into the work that you do. I've realized that Nhi's statement added so much weight into my list of reasons for doing what I do - for the heart, but also for the people with those hearts.
-Kim]

[What does it mean to be a nigger
to be imported from a far away land?
With shackles and chains?

or what does it mean to spell it n***er?
does it take away the sting? hide it?
remove the sting from a hard history? or obscure it altogether

it's not a word i'm uncomfortable with, nigger
but then again i'm not uncomfortable with my history
the ancestors transported on ships or the ones who sold them off to such a hellacious journey

a journey past the point of no return
that's where they took them, took us
and now i'm here, at an unknown destination

still
as someone spews hate speech
niggers, nooses, and picnics
to them... that's all it is
funny, comical, satirical

but how can you satire a history, a story
that you don't even know, have forgotten
or just don't understand

how can i simply be your nigger
how can you hate me that much
that you'd ever think that hanging me from a tree
would ever be funny or satirical
how can i be simply your nigger
-Lajuanda]

[Lately I have been stretched thin
A rubber band between taut fingers
Ready to fly loose
Yet weighed down at one end by
Obligations
To a family who says they love me
But who speak with shame when their friends ask what I am studying
To a boy
Who can touch me and hold me and kiss me
But can't bothered to call once a day
To a university
Which I entered two years ago
Eager
Determined
Passionate
Some of that passion remains still
But now I am more
Disillusioned
Frustrated
Angry
And all over California, in institutions of public education
I feel a tension ready to explode
Fueled by
Unprecedented tuition hikes and a privatization of knowledge
We have seen this tension already
In the form of
Swastikas and Ku Klux Klan hats and vandalism
Today as we march forth
We hope to turn this tension
Into demands for change
Transparency
Equity
We hope it will be enough
But the world is stretched thin
A rubber band between taut fingers
Soon it will snap
And madness will burst forth
As our educational system falls apart
So tell me, who will be left standing
To pick up the pieces?
-Carmen]

[Silence
I see tears of my sisters
I hear the breaths of their sobs
I read painful words and feel like
an open wound that hasn't healed...

I see racism, sexism, homophobia
I feel disempowered, targeted and scared
I don't feel safe... anywhere

but today was a good day
I usually see the glass half empty or not there at all
the world as a bad place and people
as evil creatures I want to destroy...
but today the sun was shining
today the tears did not flow
today I saw hope in solidarity
something I thought I'd never know

I speak from privilege, pain, and experience
I understand my experience is not yours
but I know I love you, you love me
and what better foundation for a new world
-Jessica]

It was an emotional night, but thank you for sharing, sisters. If you can't speak about an experience, can't take the poison from the memory, then we can't start healing. And that is why I'm grateful for this space.
-C

Every time I think I dont want to be single....I am reminded

So if you all remember the crazy obsession I had with this man over retreat....this is his "opinion" (I use that word loosely) to the incidents at UCSD, followed by my response.....I am ashamed for having had sex with this ignorant person


Jonathan Davis
PERSONALLY: MARCHING AROUND CAMPUS SINGING OLD NEGRO SPIRITUALS WILL DO NOTHING. MASSIVE WALKOUTS OF THE TEACH INS YEA THAT HURT THEM ....MOREOVER A PI KAPPA ALPHA WALKED BOLDLY BY HIMSELF IN TO THE RALLY WEARING HIS HOODY WITH PRIDE. THERE WAS NO INTIMIDATION OR FEAR. CLEARLY WE ARE NO THREAT TO HIM OR HIS ORGANIZATION.

THINKING POLITICALLY DOESNT WORK WHEN YOU DONT HAVE ANY POLITICAL POWER. WHAT WILL MAKE CHANGE IS DOING MASSIVE CLASSROOM WALK OUTS. AND IF WE ONLY REPRESENT 1.3% OF THE CAMPUS HOW MUCH DAMAGE WILL TWO CLASSROOM WALKOUTS DO..YOU NEED ALL THOSE OTHER WHITE PEOPLE AND ASIAN AND HISPANICS TO GET IN ON IT...HOW ABOUT FILING A CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS. WHITE PEOPLE ONLY KNOW MONEY AND UNTIL THEY START LOSING IT THEY DONT CARE ABOUT 7MINUTE MARCHES..

WHITE PEOPLE: LOOK AT THESE LITTLE NIGGERS SING AND PRANCE AROUND CAMPUS..THEY THINK DOING LAPS AROUND A TREE IS GOING TO AFFECT US...LOL SILLY NIGGERS.... ... See More

90% OF THE PEOPLE AT THE RALLY DIDNT EVEN GO TO UCSD MOREOVER IT WAS DEFINITELY NOT REPRESENTED BY BLACK PEOPLE!!!!! I EXTREMELY HATE WHEN OTHERS TRY TO HOP IN ON THE CONFLICT..LIKE GAYS........THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH GAY RIGHTS..BEST BELIEVE IF IT DID IT WOULD HAVE HAD MORE REPRESENTATION AND MEDIA....PLEASE LET US HAVE OUR ISSUE...

I HAVE MORE TO SAY BUT ILL STOP HERE FOR NOW....I NOW OPEN UP THE FLOOR FOR COMMENTS AND QUESTION


Alika-Liliuokalani Sasha Chanel Gobert

Im sorry. As someone highly involved in social justice and inequity I am appalled at your misconceptions and lack of understanding with regard not only to this issue but as to systems and relations of power. Your argument is problematic for a number of reasons but most poignantly because it reiterates some of the exact reasons that non-marginalized... See More people neither respect nor understand the outrage of people of color and other oppressed groups when incidents such as these occur. For example, when people of color groups, those groups that are striving to organize a collective response on the UCSD campus, are struggling for funding simply to maintain their population yield how do you expect that they procure the means to sue? There are a number of legal issues that you seem to be overlooking, such as the fact that the public university did not actively participate in the event that took place at a private residence, yet it is the university that should be responsible for the campus climate. Most often than not, when legal action is brought against a large institution, as a means to avoid negative publicity the matter is settled out of court and forgotten about quickly. How then would you propose the continued awareness that people of color at UCSD are striving to promote. Whenever such incidents occur without retributive action, action that visibly expresses community outrage, those guilty of such acts continue in the secure knowledge that silly ass events like the "Compton Cookout" are completely acceptable and I am of no doubt that the occurrences of such acts of prejudice would only increase. Secondly, your reference to the "gays" is unimaginably ignorant and uninformed. When things like this happen social solidarity of oppressed peoples is the only immediate form of recourse that those affected psychologically, emotionally etc viable have. Your lack of knowledge of social movements is astonishing. When Chavez fought for the rights of undocumented workers he did not restrict his membership to "Mexican", Filipinos as well were influential in the success of Chavez's work, and it was because of the social solidarity that existed between these groups that lent power to the force of their demands. Living in a society that is systematically designed to oppress and marginalize anyone not ascribing to the identity of white, upper class, heterosexual male I cant believe that you would actually advocate for the separation of other concerned groups from this in order to maintain this as a "black issue". The involvement of "the gays" or "the mexicans" or whoever else you were referring to is not an attempt to co-opt a black movement, riding the coat tails for demands from the administration. It is an attempt to directly combat the "divide and conquer" tactic that has allowed for our oppressors to prosper in the face of our overwhelming population advantage. If people of color and other underprivileged groups ever hope to have their demands met the attitude that promotes the distinctions between a "black issue", an "asian issue", a "gay issue", a "lower socioeconomic issue" must be eliminated. Discrimination affects us all, even those privileged enough not to feel the brunt of its effects, because it is a reflection of the problematic dynamics that exist in our society. To combat ignorance, a coalition of the oppressed is necessary, which means the end of isolation based on identity. The Compton Cookout is not a black issue it is a community issue and even more markedly so given the fact that the Students of Color Conference just took place on the UCSD campus last semester. The incident is sad but your opinion is even sadder for it perpetuates the misunderstanding that allows things like this to continue to take place...that is all I have to say

Isnt that fucking sad?