
surrogate for President Donald Trump actually said that World War II-era Japanese-American internment camps could be seen as a “precedent” for the potential creation of a Muslim immigrant registry. This is despite the, um, slightly awkward fact that the U.S.’s Japanese internment camps are pretty much universally considered a black mark on our country’s history. In fact, it was no less a conservative icon than Ronald Reagan who signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which issued a formal apology to the more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent who were incarcerated, and paid out $20,000 in compensation to all surviving victims.
Category Archives: human rights
A settler living in an illegal outpost issues orders to demolish Palestinian homes – PNN
The racism in Israel is mostly reflected in every aspect of their life, the last of which came within the context of disclosing that Head of the Regional Unit to enforce the laws of planning and building at the Israeli Ministry of Finance, Adv. Avi Cohen, who is in charge of implementing the law of demolishing Palestinian homes, is living in an unlicensed building in the illegal Bilgi Mime outpost, built in 1984, on lands belonging to Qaryout, Saweiya and Al-Luban in Nablus Governorate, under a government resolution. Cohen was appointed 2 years ago as a Head of the Regional Unit to enforce the laws of planning and building, also called Regional Unit for Monitoring the Building. Moreover, the Unit has the powers and authority to follow-up everything related to construction in cooperation with all planning institutions.
Source: A settler living in an illegal outpost issues orders to demolish Palestinian homes – PNN
The Humiliation of Entering The United States As Arab | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares
Ten years later, after months of back and forth with the Embassy and papers flowing in and out, I was finally given a visitor’s visa for 5 years on my third try, routine for Lebanese citizens who were granted the document as far as I know. A few months later, I visited the United States of America for the first time ever.On my second visit, the border control officer said his system “couldn’t process” me, so I was taken into another room where, an hour and another interrogation later, I was permitted entry to come into the US to do my medical residency interviews. This happened again on my third entry, with longer waiting times. Entering the US has been the most invasive thing to my being, and I’ve survived medical school.It’s also what has been happening to many of my colleagues and friends: doctors, scientists, researchers, humans. Just because they were unfortunate enough to be born in countries that are not worthy of enough of having their citizens treated with the minimum of human decency. I can tell you stories about physicians who were kept in those rooms for four hours, waiting for who knows what. It’s never easy to sit there and not know what’s going to happen to you, just because you dared seek entry of a foreign country that you’ve already been thoroughly vetted to be given a visa to.
100+ Asian American & Pacific Islander Organizations Pledge to Resist Repression Under Trump Administration | Race Files
Mr. Trump’s campaign used explicit racial appeals to win the support of disaffected white voters, promising to restore their economic and social standing by deporting millions of immigrants, building a wall, creating a Muslim registry, banning Muslim immigration, and punishing Black dissent. He also engaged in deeply misogynistic language and behavior throughout his campaign. He insulted all people of color; people with disabilities; and women – all of whom amount to the majority of America. In the global arena, he has signaled at a new nuclear arms race, promised to expand the use of torture, and disparaged the United Nations.Since his election, Mr. Trump has chosen known white nationalists, corporate moguls, religious zealots, climate deniers, hawkish ex-generals, anti-Islam spokespersons, and anti-government crusaders to serve in his Administration. Right-wing extremists now dominate his party, which will control all three branches of the federal government and the majority of state legislatures, and are positioned to jeopardize the future of the Supreme Court for the next generation and beyond. Together this new realignment of forces seeks to turn back the clock on civil rights and environmental protections, to maximize corporate profits by privatizing the public sector, and to create a racially and culturally exclusive America.This is not business as usual, and we will not engage in business-as-usual tactics and strategies.
I Kept Feeling the Women’s March on Washington Lacked Passion, But Then I Figured the Real Problem – The Ladies Finger The Ladies Finger
As I chanted “No Trump. No KKK. No Fascist USA,” I looked into the faces of the marchers around me, and I got my answer: Americans are not accustomed to this. Most of these hundreds of thousands of people had probably never been to a protest before, and never marched with their children and their parents and screamed at the top of their lungs in the middle of a metropolitan road. This was their first time, their introduction to taking the streets. What I assumed was a lack of passion turned out to be something equally important: a first step. The million people: women, men, children, and allies who marched on Washington, did not have the experience of fighting against overt oppression, but they knew they needed to show up; they knew they must be united in the face of a new era that will have them fight for the rights they have long taken for granted. On this day, the American Woman showed up, she rose to the occasion, and though she was hesitant, she was determined.We arrived at the White House, filling the National Mall with pink pussy hats and chants of “my body, my rights”, and made our presence known. Soon after people started to scatter, but for the rest of the day, one could not go anywhere without running into someone with a sign or a pussy hat. This may not be the desperate protest that started a revolution against a Middle Eastern dictatorship, but it is the American woman beginning her fight. The movement has begun.
The Day I Turned from a Victim into a Survivor. | Rebelle Society
I’ve been married since, and have been grateful enough to find husbands who understand that my legs can’t be pinned down. That there are times when my PTSD flares up and I. Just. Can’t.The emotional part is the hardest. Like I said, I use sex as a tool to protect myself from rejection. I use sex as a tool to protect myself from the rejection of this man I love.He is the first and only one who has ever called me out on my daddy issues, and he’s also the first to honestly make me think that I really do have them. But, at the very least, I am a survivor. I prevented another child from being molested. I prevented another child from losing her childhood to my piece-of-shit stepdad. While he rots in prison, I survived. Daddy issues and all.
Source: The Day I Turned from a Victim into a Survivor. | Rebelle Society
Growing up in fear of men – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.
I was 14 the first time a boy kissed me. It was during a Math class. I needed to use the washroom, and he came out a minute after I did. I didn’t want it. He wasn’t gentle about it. I still remember his nails digging into my arms. I remember how long it took. I remember his hand grabbing my waist, his grip in my hair, his tongue in my mouth, and his teeth scraping my lips. I remember how hard his grip was when he was grabbing my breasts.This was the same boy who became the face of my nightmares for two years. Sebastian made jokes about it in class: about my body, about what he wanted to do to me. The boys laughed; the girls rolled their eyes. The Math teacher ignored it all. I smiled along with the girls who insisted that he liked me. I cried when I was alone. I cried a lot over those two years. Fourteen-year-old me didn’t even know that I had the ability to cry so much.The first boy I was ever infatuated with was in the same Math class. I liked him. He was nice to me. He made me laugh. I was happy when he was around. Sebastian didn’t like that. He made it his mission to become friends with the boy I liked. I never knew in detail what it was that Sebastian said to him; what it was that made him ashamed to be around me. I didn’t know if Sebastian even told him about the kiss, or if he made it sound consensual. My crush started avoiding me, making me feel like I wasn’t good enough. After a while, I didn’t think I was good enough for anyone either.Looking back, I’m not disappointed in myself anymore. After a while I told people. I told teachers, and I told other girls who had been through similar experiences. The teachers were the biggest disappointments. It isn’t reasonable to expect children to protect other children. Teachers are supposed to have a duty towards the children they teach. The adult figures in my life failed me. It shouldn’t have taken me screaming and crying in class one day for a teacher to actually remove him from the class. That same male teacher shouldn’t have told me, when I raised my voice because Sebastian wouldn’t stop, that ‘it took two to tango.’
Source: Growing up in fear of men – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.
Lebanon’s Parliament Ridicules And Votes Down Anti-Sexual & Racial Harassment Law | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares
If you needed anymore proof that the current batch of patriarchal parliament members are no good, look no further than their constant ridicule and systematic decimation of women rights. Even the law they passed to “protect” women from domestic abuse a few years ago was passed in a near stillborn form after decades of labor.A few days ago, that parliament struck again when MP Ghassan Moukhaiber’s proposed law from 2014, aimed at criminalizing sexual and racial harassment, came up for a discussion and a vote. Instead of behaving in a civil manner and actually discussing the many merits of the law, which is of vital importance for the betterment of any society, our parliament members met the proposal with uproars and ridicule.
It’s Not an Anti-Trump Rally, Says Padma Lakshmi of the Women’s March on Washington – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger
Marches like these are happening all across the world (they’re called ‘Sister Marches’). iFundWomen, a crowdfunding platform for women entrepreneurs, is planning to take a break from the startup and head to the march in Washington. Founder Karen Cahn had made this decision after Hillary Clinton lost the election to Donald Trump and talk of marches started taking place. Cahn isn’t the only female entrepreneur marching, she has company in Molly Hayward (who launched an organic tampon company) and Gretchen Jones (a fashion designer) among others.At a time like this, it’s heartwarming to hope that feminism can one day Trump the world.
Thousands fill Loop after Women’s March rally in Chicago draws 250,000 – Chicago Tribune
The rally began with light-hearted music but quickly moved into difficult discussions on racism, homophobia, xenophobia and gun violence. Samantha Marie Ware, a Chicago cast member of ‘Hamilton,’ became emotional on stage recalling how she, as a black woman, once felt as though she couldn’t accomplish her goals because of her race. She encouraged the women before her to stand up.
Source: Thousands fill Loop after Women’s March rally in Chicago draws 250,000 – Chicago Tribune







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