California Feminist Blogs

Georgia Right to Life (or toomanyaborted.com) is using this racialized billboard as part of their current campaign aimed at the Black community of Atlanta. As usual, the fundamentalist conservatives, dehumanize Black children to fulfill their current political agenda by calling our Black youth "endangered species" although in this attempt they are supposedly trying to garner support from within the Black community rather then alienate it.

However, the exploitation of young people to forward political agendas is not exclusive to the right wing. Check out these images from a French anti-smoking campaign comparing the tobacco industry to pedophilia.


What is so disturbing about these two very different political ad campaigns is there similarities. Both exploit young people, a disenfranchised social location, dehumanizing and objectifying them, in order to appeal to adults.

But let's get back to Georgia Right to Life (and toomanyaborted.com.) whom also produced the video below, which I can be honest and say that it asks some fair questions and presents accurate data. They are very cunning, in their accompanying article, citing Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger's Negro Project; and asking why are there so many clinics in the hood, much like revolutionists want to know why there are so many liquor stores in the hood, is a very shrewd attempt to stoke the notions of racial conspiracy . In feminist circles, the deceased Sanger's apparent racism has never been a secret nor was it ever hidden within history. In fact, whenever it was brought to my attention (mostly within the academy and activism,) Sanger's racist ideas were condemned.




Choice does not begin nor end with Margaret Sanger nor Planned Parenthood. Choice is about control over your body.

Georgia Right to Life further objectifies and insults Black women and their community suggesting that historical community leaders (such as:Mary McLeod Bethune, W. E. B. DuBois, and Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr) were duped into supporting Reproductive Rights and Black women are targeted for abortion thus, Black women are not really in control of their own bodies.

Alas, in an "if all else fails" strategy, the group attempts to shame Black women into submission by declaring that while they are only 13% of the population they have the most abortions at a rate of 3x more than white women. (Of course whiteness, at the end of the day, is always the standard, right? Gross.) In fact this is their entire rationalization for dehumanizing Black children, objectifying Black women and insulting Black leadership both past and present.

I am in support of reproductive rights. Personally, I'm not sure that abortion is morally correct. However, women should never be forced into having a child, therefore I support laws that uphold choice.

OPINION: Ron Paul Is A White Supremacist

By Casey Gane-McCalla

http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/opinion-ron-paul-is-a-white-supremacist/

Originally, when I began reporting on the Neo-Nazis and conspiracy theory driven right wing extremists and their associations with Ron Paul, I assumed they were a fringe group who jumped on to the Ron Paul bandwagon. Then after doing extensive research, I realized that not only did the Neo-Nazis and the John Birch/Timothy McVeigh based conspiracy theorists support Ron Paul, but Ron Paul supports the views of the Neo-Nazis and the conspiracy theorists.

There are several pieces of evidence tying Paul to both white supremacists and right wing conspiracy theorists. One connection that ties Paul to both Neo-Nazis and conspiracy theorists, is his close connection to the John Birch society. The John Birch Society is a group that has been called, paranoid, radical, racist, and extremist, and believes in a Jewish/Freemason conspiracy to transform the world into a communist “New World Order.”

The John Birch Society

The John Birch society holds McCarthy as a hero and believes that “liberal” politicians and are part of a “communist” conspiracy known as “Insiders”. They opposed the Civil Rights movement and Civil Rights legislation (and still do), called Martin Luther King a radical socialist threat (and still do), praised apartheid and believe that Nelson Mandela was “a communist terrorist thug” and campaigned for segregationist Presidential candidate George Wallace.

What is most scary about the John Birch Society, is that it seems to be a breeding ground for Neo-Nazis. Several members of the intellectual wing of the White Nationalist Neo-Nazi movement come directly from the John Birch society.

One of the founders of the John Birch Society was Revilo P. Oliver, who went on to found the white nationalist Neo-Nazi organization, The National Alliance which named Hitler “the greatest man of our era.”

Another member of the John Birch society was William Pierce, also a founder of the National Alliance, who also wrote “The Turner Diaries.” “The Turner Diaries” is credited with inspiring Timothy McVeigh to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, Killing 168 people.

Other prominent members of the John Birch society, who played large roles in the Neo-Nazi movement, include Tom Metzger, who was a Grand Dragon of the KKK and Kevin Strom, the former managing director of National Vanguard, (another prominent white supremacist organization) who was convicted for child pornography.

The Southern Poverty Leadership Committee claims the John Birch society is responsible for a lot of the Patriot movement “New World Order,” anti-government ideologies that spread to militias and Neo-Nazis.

Ron Paul was the keynote speaker for the John Birch Society’s 50th Anniversary and spoke about the strong connection he had to the society and their ideologies.

The John Birch Society is a great patriotic organization featuring an educational program solidly based on constitutional principles. I congratulate the Society in this, its 50th year. I wish them continued success and endorse their untiring efforts to foster ‘less government, more responsibility … and with God’s help … a better world.’”

I am delighted to help celebrate this birthday.” “I’m sure there are people in this room who probably helped me in that campaign, because I know that so many of you have over the years.”

continue what you have been doing…..I come with a positive message and congratulations to you for all you have done. Congratulations and thank you very much for having me tonight.

The John Birch society had a big role in Paul’s “Rally For The Republic” in where their leader spoke and they distributed anti “New World Order” materials.

Aside from his involvement in the John Birch society, Ron Paul has an extensive history of writing and promoting racist literature that would seem to come from one of the many John Birch Neo-Nazi offshoots. Ron Paul’s, Ron Paul newsletter contained articles attacking African-Americans, for being unintelligent, lazy and prone to crime, and Jews for being part of Zionist conspiracies. The newsletters also contained pro-militia articles that advised militia armed groups to “Leave no clues…Avoid the phone as much as possible,”…. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here” three months before McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma.

Here are some of the many racist quotes that can be found in Paul’s newsletter from 1978 till 1995

On the L.A. Riots

“Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began,”

‘civil rights,’ quotas, mandated hiring preferences, set-asides for government contracts, gerrymandered voting districts, black bureaucracies, black mayors, black curricula in schools, black tv shows, black tv anchors, hate crime laws, and public humiliation for anyone who dares question the black agenda

On African-American Political Opinion

Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action

On African-Americans and Crime

Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal,

America’s number one need is an unlimited white checking account for underclass blacks.
mostly black welfare recipients will feel justified in stealing from mostly white ‘haves.’

Paul also used the newsletter to refer to call the end of apartheid in South Africa, the “destruction of civilization” and warned of a South African Holocaust after Nelson Mandela was elected.

Paul’s newsletter also included several attacks on Martin Luther King. After Martin Luther King Day was named a national holiday, this was written in his newsletter, “What an infamy Ronald Reagan approved it!…..We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day”

While the newsletter criticized Martin Luther King, it praised former KKK Grand Wizard, David Duke, “Is David Duke’s new prominence, despite his losing the gubernatorial election, good for anti-big government forces? our priority should be to take the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-crime, anti-welfare loafers, anti-race privilege, anti-foreign meddling message of Duke, and enclose it in a more consistent package of freedom.”

In This Quote, Paul Exhibits The Paranoid Conspiracy Driven Anti-Semitic, Homophobic, Racist View From The John Birch Society

I’ve been told not to talk, but these stooges don’t scare me. Threats or no threats, I’ve laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one.) The Bohemian Grove–perverted, pagan playground of the powerful. Skull & Bones: the demonic fraternity that includes George Bush and leftist Senator John Kerry, Congress’s Mr. New Money. The Israeli lobby, which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica

Source

While Paul has abandoned writing and distributing racist literature, he is still strongly connected to the Neo-Nazi movement.

It seems as if people in the white supremacist, Neo-Nazi community believe that Paul is one of them. Paul is usually somewhere between David Duke, who refers to Paul as “Our King,” and Hitler on the Neo-Nazi hero list.

Ron Paul accepted a donation from the founder of white supremacist site, Stormfront, Don Black and even took a picture with him and his son Derek. Ron Paul has been endorsed by David Duke and Sean Hannity’s Nazi cohort, Hal Turner

Several prominent Ron Paul Internet organizers are also notorious Neo-Nazis. Will Williams, also known as white will was a prominent internet organizer for the Paul campaign. He also the Southern Coordinator for Turner Diaries’ author, William Pierce’s National Alliance.

Another one is Ron Doggett. Doggett, a David Duke underling posts Ron Paul propaganda on various Neo-Nazi website, such as Stormfront and Vanguard News. Another KKK member who organized for Paul was Randy Grey,the Midland County, Michigan coordinator for the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential campaign who was also a leader for the Michigan KKK.

Ron Paul Believes In The John Birch “New World Order” Conspiracy Theory

Asides from the racism, Paul has inherited other ideologies from the John Birch society. Ron Paul has several times alluded that he believes in the John Birch conspiracy theory, that a communist secret society conspiracy is seeking to bring the world into “New World Order” one world government and destroy America.

Another one of Ron Paul’s supporters is Alex Jones. Jones is a radio host who has extensively promoted the John Birch “New World Order” conspiracy of an Illuminati secret society trying to bring the world into a socialist one world government .

Jones has enthusiastically endorsed Ron Paul for President and has even has Paul on his radio show several times. Rather than discourage Jones conspiracy theories, Paul encourages them. On Jones show, Paul said.

A world central bank, worldwide regulation and world control of the whole system, of all the commodities and all the natural resources, what else can you call it other than world government?

We have to continue to do what we are doing, you are in the business of passing on and spreading information, that, to me, is most crucial, getting more people engaged, more people understanding what the issues are, nothing else is more important than that. Then when you see an opportunity we have to turn this into political action.

Source

Ron Paul even used the phrase “New World Order” in a rally in Nashville, equating it with the UN, World Bank and IMF.

When asked “Is there a plan for a New World Order and how do we stop it,” Paul stayed to his John Birch philosophy and ranted against the U.N.

The first President Bush said the New World Order was in tune– and that’s what they were working for. The U.N. is part of that government. They’re working right now very significantly towards a North American Union. That’s why there’s a lot of people in Washington right now who don’t care too much about our borders. They have a philosophical belief that national sovereignty is not important. It’s also the reason I’ve made the very strong suggestion the U.S. need not be in the U.N. for national security reasons.

Ron Paul has denied he is racist and said that he didn’t write the many racist statements in the newsletter that was distributed in his name under his byline. The Magazine that originally uncovered the racist newsletters responded with.

To believe that Ron Paul had no knowledge of what was being written in his own name, in his own office, for 20 years — and that he didn’t even read his own monthly publication — not only “stretches credulity to the breaking point,” it actually requires believing bald-faced lies.

In the statement about the coming race war and the homosexual AIDS plot, Paul clearly identified himself as a “physician” making it seem clear that Paul had the same racist, anti-Semitic, conspiratorial views of his fellow John Birch Society members.

A now incarcerated Neo-Nazi by the name of Bill White put out a statement that Ron Paul was a man with Neo-Nazi views, but he hid them because of his political position.

I have kept quiet about the Ron Paul campaign for a while, because I didn’t see any need to say anything that would cause any trouble. However, reading the latest release from his campaign spokesman, I am compelled to tell the truth about Ron Paul’s extensive involvement in white nationalism.

Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review, and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, usually on Wednesdays. This is part of a dinner that was originally organized by Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis and Joe Sobran, and has since been mostly taken over by the Council of Conservative Citizens.

I have attended these dinners, seen Paul and his aides there, and been invited to his offices in Washington to discuss policy.

For his spokesman to call white racialism a “small ideology” and claim white activists are “wasting their money” trying to influence Paul is ridiculous. Paul is a white nationalist of the Stormfront type who has always kept his racial views and his views about world Judaism quiet because of his political position.

I don’t know that it is necessarily good for Paul to “expose” this. However, he really is someone with extensive ties to white nationalism and for him to deny that in the belief he will be more respectable by denying it is outrageous — and I hate seeing people in the press who denounce racialism merely because they think it is not fashionable.

Bill White, Commander
Source

There are far to many connections between Ron Paul and white supremacists to be overlooked. From his close affiliation to the Neo-Nazi breeding ground, The John Birch society, to the large number of Neo-Nazis who support and organize for him, to the racist literature he wrote and or distributed for almost 20 years between 1978 and 1995.

Ron Paul is clearly a right wing extremist from the John Birch Society school of thought. Most of his policies and views come from their conspiracy theory, from his opposition to the U.N. and Civil Rights legislation, to his homophobia and anti-Semitism. He clearly believes in or chooses to spread the paranoia based New World Order, Illuminati theory that the John Birch society has spreading to militias and Neo-Nazis for so many years.

Given all the evidence it is very easy to believe Bill White’s claim that Paul has been keeping his racist views quiet in order to infiltrate mainstream politics. While it may seem that Ron Paul is a good decent man with strong political ideals, that isn’t racist, who is being supported by Neo-Nazis and Patriot movement militia people who wrongly believe that he is one of them, the opposite is true. Ron Paul is a man with Neo-Nazi, Patriot movement militia views who is being supported by good decent people with strong political ideals who wrongly believe he is one of them.

I have decided to move my family drama topics over to a new blog that I have created. If you are interested in wacko, dysfunctional families, then you might be interested in reading my new blog.

I've been down with the flu lately, and will be blogging here as soon as I build my energy up again!

xoxo

Law Students for Reproductive Justice at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, CA held “Violence Awareness Week” (or V-Week) between February 15 and February 17 to raise awareness about domestic and sexual violence faced by women around the globe. 

We used the three days as both an awareness campaign and as a method to collect toiletries to donate to a local women’s shelter. A large colorful poster bearing violence-related statistics was on display behind our table, and handouts were available for those wishing to learn more.  Each day we posted a different question passersby could answer in an attempt to win a prize. The prizes were shirts that read “Don’t Turn Your Back on Violence Against Women.” One question was “what percentage of women are physically or sexually assaulted each year by either a husband or intimate partner or someone they know?” While a handful of people attempted fair guesses each day, the question on the last day (a nod to this being “National Condom Week”) yielded the most responses: a jar containing condoms was on display and students were urged to guess “how many condoms are in the jar?”  

Finally, our members asked students to take a picture for UNIFEM’s Get Crossed campaign, which urges people to take a stand and “Say No to Sexual Violence in Conflict.” A large red canvas sheet that read “Stop Rape Now” was the backdrop for the pictures where people stood with their arms crossed in the shape of an “X” to demonstrate their solidarity with the campaign. The week of activities was a huge success for our chapter as it garnered a substantial amount of attention from students and faculty.  

Jenn Kish

Above is a video blog of Rachel Maddow's, an MSNBC host and one of the Left's Top 25 Journalists, as described by The Daily Beast, experience at the CPAC Convention this weekend. It is at the least a glimpse into the hearts and minds of our conservative, fundamentalist brethren.

During an interview with Playboy, John Mayer decided his self-proclaimed "hood pass" was encompassing enough to use the n-word, objectify Black women, pontificate about the Black American struggle and compare his sexual taste in women to white supremacist David Duke; he really, really must have been delusional to think that the self-proclaimed hood pass would not be instantly revoked by the Black community whom had never granted it to him in the first place.

I don't believe Mayer is a racist. A sexist, yes. An idiot, oh hell yes.





But then in an attempt to sincerely distance himself from the remarks (see above video,) but not so sincerely take responsibility for using the n-word and objectifying Black women and men in the process of trying to act cool, Mayer delivers a rambling apology of sorts, claiming that in his attempt to be "clever" he delivered the fuel that the media fire needed to "persecute" him.

Whiteness like Blackness (or even non-whiteness, if you will) is an intensely loaded social location. A white person can be aware of the fatality of perpetuating whiteness, but still be unaware that they manifest certain characteristics learned through holding this social location, mainly such as: a sense of entitlement, lack of accountability. Thus, the white boy who hangs with the Black crowd, believes he has a "hood pass" granting him the right to use the n-word without ever having been told so. However, note, that Mayer only went there with another white person, the author of the article, Rob Tannenbaum, but was in tears about what he said when he was back on stage with his Black band members.

While Mayer may not be a Hip Hop Head, he does label his music as the "Blues" thus perhaps he could benefit from J-Love's "WHITE LIKE ME: 10 Codes of Ethics for White People in Hip Hop. Codes that could be and should be applied to a more universal context, including other Black (or non-white) musical genres, social movements, etc...

Specifically, Code 9. Where J-Love explains: "Don’t think you are the exception to the rule; YOU ARE NOT THE COOLEST WHITE PERSON IN THE WORLD! (By the way, this code relates to me also) You are not so different and unique as to warrant a special ‘cool white person’ pass..."

John Mayer, you never had a "hood pass." Duh.

I think that I am having an identity crisis. Or something of the sort. Whatever it is, it is inspired by twitter, the blogosphere and other internet meeting places. Or maybe today it is inspired by PMS. Who the hell knows??

My identity crisis has to do with language, ethnicity and feminism.

As a child I grew up in a neighborhood mixed with immigrants and native born Latina/os. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in at everyone. I was raised by a single mother and everyone else mainly had a father around, at least when we were younger. I think that was the first time that I started noticing that I was different than the other families, and that they treated our family differently.

As a child I never really fit into the groups of kids who hung out with one another. I never really fit into the group with the first generation immigrant kids who mainly spoke Spanish, and I didn't fit into the group of native born kids who didn't speak Spanish either.

Growing up I always got too many mixed messages from my family and the community. "Maintain your Spanish and culture" would be the message one day and "English is more important" would be the message the next day. "Wow, you have an accent when you speak English" was often pointed out to me by English speakers, and "Wow, you have an accent in Spanish and butcher the language" was told to me by native Spanish speaking recent immigrants.

I never felt like I fit in anywhere. I didn't fit in with the white kids, I didn't fit in with the second and third generation latinos, and I didn't fit in with the recent immigrants. I have never fit in with many other Latinas, because in my experience far too many of them have been oppressed by the Catholic church or their families. The handful of latina feminists that I have come to know well over the years is a very small group, and they are mainly English speaking second and third generation latinas.

Over the past couple of months, I have been chatting on twitter with my buddy Marga Britto who writes a blog called Madres Insumisas. She is bilingual and through my interactions with her I am beginning to realize that I have lost a lot of my Spanish. I can obviously communicate in Spanish, but I have a laziness that exists in many bilingual communities, where we can just revert back to English when the going gets tough.

From following Marga, I am starting to also follow many other latina feminists in Mexico who tweet and write primarily in Spanish. One part of me feels such a relief to see Mexican feminists. It's like I have been looking for them all of my life and I have found them. It fills a void that I have walked around feeling all of my life. But then comes the language issue, and the frustration that I can't communicate to the same extent in Spanish as I do in English.

And there's always that nagging sense of the conflict that sometimes exists between native born Mexicans and those of us who were born in the United States. You know, that conflict of not fully understanding one another's life experiences, languages, and cultural practices.

Language is an interesting thing, tied intricately to our identity and ability to have intimacy with other people. I just hope that I can move past this temporary issue with strengthening my Spanish that I have begun to lose over the years. The realization that I have lost my Spanish to the extent that it makes me feel as if I can't communicate as effectively with people who I have been waiting for all my life to appear...well, that makes me very sad, indeed.

Exert from Palin's Key Note Speech at Tea Party Convention in regard to President Obama's handling of the Christmas Day Bomber:

"And to win that war, we need a commander-in-chief, not a PROFESSOR OF LAW STANDING AT THE LECTURN!"

Right, we would much rather have someone who resigns from her job as Governor of Alaska to go on a book tour (because that shows commitment to the people!); and has to refer to notes scribbled on her hand when asked what her key ideas are for the convention (I could only imagine her at a G-8 Summit!)

If this is what the Republicans have to offer for 2012, I don't know whether to relax and call it easy street or to fear for my life. She's got one thing right, I am ready for a revolution.

Tonight I watched a documentary called P-Star Rising, about a young female rapper. I'm not into rap, so I have no idea if this little girl is well known or not, but I fell in love with her from the moment that she declared herself as a seven year old "feminist phenomenon". She literally called herself a feminist phenomenon in one of her presentations at a club to a room of adults. After watching the documentary, I am so in love with this little girl.

Priscilla was born to a mother who was addicted to drugs and was placed in foster care when her father spent time in prison for drug charges. She later lived with her father after he cleaned up his act and at the age of six she told her father that she wanted to be a rapper. It was at the age of six that this little bad ass became "P-Star", the youngest female rapper and self-proclaimed feminist phenomenon.

During the documentary, it was unclear whether her mother was infected with HIV. Priscilla, her father and sister discussed AIDS frequently and talked about whether or not their mother was alive or was taking care of herself. At one point they hunt down the mother and see her, and it's pretty clear that the mom is still on drugs.

As I watched the documentary, I was in shock so many times because as a ten year old girl she seemed so much like an adult. Not only did she have to face adult issues, such as when her mother showed her heroin tracks and talked about "shooting up", but she also sometimes had to set her dad straight when it came to business decisions.

I am positive that this young girl is going to be someone someday. Check out more about her here: