All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Top Kurdish rights defender in Turkey shot and killed | News | DW.COM | 28.11.2015

A prominent Kurdish lawyer and human rights defender has been killed in Turkey after making a pro-peace press statement in the city of Diyarbakir. It is unclear who was behind the attack.

Source: Top Kurdish rights defender in Turkey shot and killed | News | DW.COM | 28.11.2015

During Planned Parenthood Shooting, Fear and Chaos at Shopping Center – The New York Times

After arrest: “People poured out. Among them was Ms. Schilter, the woman at the grocery store. Her boyfriend, Jackson Ricker, 18, placed his arms around her waist and his chin on her shoulder and noted that Ms. Schilter had witnessed a different shooting a few weeks earlier when a heavily armed man shot and killed a bicyclist and two women in the downtown. “The first time she cried,” said Mr. Ricker, looking at his dry-eyed girlfriend. “She’s a veteran now.”

Source: During Planned Parenthood Shooting, Fear and Chaos at Shopping Center – The New York Times

Garrett Swasey, Officer Killed in Colorado, Is Recalled for Courage and Faith – The New York Times

Garrett Swasey, 44, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer who was shot and killed while responding to a shooting at a Planned Parenthood office, was described by his fellow church members and friends as a courageous man and loving father who drew strength and inspiration from his Christian faith.Continue reading the main storyRELATED COVERAGE3 Are Dead in Colorado Springs Shootout at Planned Parenthood CenterNOV. 27, 2015video Gunfire Exchange in Colorado SpringsNOV. 27, 2015slideshow Gunfire at a Colorado Planned Parenthood ClinicNOV. 27, 2015He was married, with two young children, and had been on the campus police force for six years. He also spent seven years as a co-pastor at Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs. “Here’s a guy who worked full time as a police officer, and then gave a great amount of time to his local church and didn’t get a dime for it,” said Scott Dontanville, a co-pastor who knew Officer Swasey for 15 years. “He did it because it was the thing that he felt he needed to do.”

Source: Garrett Swasey, Officer Killed in Colorado, Is Recalled for Courage and Faith – The New York Times

Permission of the state

First you Survive/ Then you Thrive

How is Black on Black crime different from white on white crime?

We live in a segregated society and crime is often defined by proximity.

The police however have taken an oath and sworn a duty to serve and protect.

They are trained and armed and sent into our community by the government, by the state.

They murder us with the

permission and

training and

equipment of the government.

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I am Woman #survival #poetry

penned in moon dust

so many walked

Looking up at the crack in the sidewalk

Unable to scream, I shudder

I feel the concrete about me move

“no please, not again” I mutter

I see the hand ready to strike

I brace myself like steal

I hear a board contact

There’s nothing that I feel

I look out at the falling snow

powdered sugar lightly shaken

oh to be nature pure

what hasn’t man from me taken?

I gather up my will

There are sounds beyond the mist

gentle breezes blow ahead

so many things I’ve missed

I look out at the falling snow

powdered sugar lightly shaken

wishing I could be pure

what hasn’t man from me taken?

You may not know my name

my boots trudge the well known way

“Survivor” I lay claim

with love this path is paved

The prompt this week at Poets United is Survival. The prompt is in recognition…

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(2/3) “It began to seem like my destiny was to be a fashion…

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(2/3) “It began to seem like my destiny was to be a fashion designer. So many things started happening for me. I started studying fashion at the Art Institute. I was invited to show at Fashion Week in South Africa. I won an award for emerging designers. Then right before graduation, the greatest thing of all happened. I got an email from my favorite actress’s stylist. You have to understand how much I loved this actress. I used to daydream about being her best friend. She was my inspiration. She was the model I used for all my sketches. And now she wanted to wear one of my dresses during a trip to Kenya! The stylist requested that I send ten samples to choose from. I borrowed $5,000 to make the dresses. I worked for weeks. I couldn’t sleep. I even skipped my final portfolio presentation to deliver the samples. I told everyone: my friends, my professors, and even the president of my school. Everyone hugged me and said: ‘We aren’t surprised. You have so much talent. You were meant for greatness!’ Over the next few weeks, I refreshed the actress’s website all day long, waiting to see my dress.”

Israel to coordinate with Google, YouTube, to censor Palestinian videos of conflict | PNN

The Israeli move comes amidst escalating tension in occupied Palestine, and a large number of videos, including those showing Israeli soldiers and officers killing Palestinians execution-style after injuring them, and many videos that in general highlight the suffering of the Palestinian people, living under the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.The Israeli coordination with Google and YouTube has very serious implications, and many journalists have spoken out in opposition, saying it is a direct assault on the Freedom of the Press, as reported by IMEMC.All foreign journalists who report in the Occupied Territories are required to register with the Israeli military, and any footage that they film is required to go through the Israeli Military Censor’s office before it can be released.With the recent advances in technology, many Palestinians and other civilians have been able to post videos uncensored online.According to IMEMC, The Israeli government has frequently voiced its discontent with this development, and have worked to find ways to continue to censor videos coming out of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Source: Israel to coordinate with Google, YouTube, to censor Palestinian videos of conflict | PNN