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sparking curiosity to influence action & inspire change for the sustainability of our Arts, humanity and global environment

[attndotcom]

How Portugal Brilliantly Ended its War on Drugs

Levels of drug consumption in Portugal are now among the lowest in the European Union.No surprise, the decriminalization of low-level drug possession has also resulted in a dramatic decline in drug arrests, from more than 14,000 per year to roughly 6,000 once the new policies were implemented. The percentage of drug-related offenders in Portuguese prisons decreased as well — from 44 percent in 1999 to under 21 percent in 2012.

[mashable]

Makeup. Check. Fierce walk. Check. Make history. Check!

Jamie Brewer just became the first model with Down syndrome to walk in New York Fashion Week. 

[iwondermedia]

#Repost @thisisfusion ・・・ Over the last 10 years, a second-class #prison system for immigrants has sprung up across some of the most remote landscapes in the United States like this one. Every night, 23,000 people, most of them held for minor #immigration infractions, are locked up in these Bureau of Prison facilities. That’s in addition to the 34,000 immigrants believed to be housed in U.S. immigration detention facilities. We hit the road to learn more about these shadow prisons, see the full investigation linked in our bio or by heading to 👉interactive.fusion.net/shadow-prisons and link is in our bio 👆#prisonreform #immigrationreform #fusioninvestigates

[mashable]

British magazine The Economist has named Zanny Minton Beddoes to the role of editor, marking the first time in the publication’s 171-year history that it is led by a woman. [via]

[humansofnewyork]

"What’s your biggest goal in life?" “I want to make it out of the hood. I don’t have to go that far. But if I can just live an inch outside, then I’ll feel safe and know that I’m straight.” —————————————————————- Adrian is the student government president at Mott Hall Bridges Academy. For anyone who hasn’t seen already, we are currently holding a fundraising campaign to provide the students at Adrian’s school with an annual visit to Harvard: http://bit.ly/1JmIB8u

[snoopbloggyblogg-deactivated201]

[stingybrim]

Since 2012, the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province opened its doors for a number of African students to live and study at the temple for free as part of a program with the Ministry of Culture.

The program lasts five years and the new disciples of Shaolin only need be committed to their training and studies and everything else remains free.

[thepeoplesrecord]

Leelah Alcorn & the quiet genocide of transgender people January 1, 2014

Leelah Alcorn’s death was a preventable tragedy. Here was a 17-year-old girl with full access to all of the information available in the 21st century about transgender identities, including many safe and effective ways to transition. But as she wrote in her own suicide note before jumping in front of a tractor trailer this week, there was no hope attached to those possibilities — no trust that it could, in fact, get better. She had given up on crying for help.

Reacting to her death on a personal level, I was reminded of some research done by two professors at James Madison University, Sue Spivey and Christine Robinson. A few years ago, Spivey and Robinson conducted an in-depth investigation of ex-gay therapy and the groups that promote it, analyzed through the lens of “social death” and the United Nation’s definitions of genocide. The U.N.’s 1948 Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide lays out several definitions besides explicit mass murder, and Spivey and Robinson found that the ex-gay movement arguably constituted all of the definitions of genocide other than mass murder. Here’s the full list:

(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The same approach has not yet been taken for transphobia, but as an academic model, it’s a useful tool. Even if specific individuals are not orchestrating a genocide of transgender people, culture arguably is. Despite the rapid progress of LGBT equality in recent years, an overwhelming rejection of non-heterosexual sexual orientations and non-cisgender gender identities persists in communities across the country, and the mental and physical health consequences for LGBT people have been increasingly documented.

Glancing at the list of the U.N.’s definitions, it’s actually easy to see how they apply to the transgender community. Trans people are regularly subjected toviolent hate crimes, to the extent that those crimes are even properly documented. Campaigns against trans equality regularly portray trans people as predatory perverts, diminishing their ability to interact with the public square in even the most basic of ways. The Southern Baptist Convention, one of the largest church groups in the country, preaches that transgender identities don’t even exist, and that trans people should not be respected for being true to their gender. Transgender people are more likely to beunemployed, homeless, denied health care, denied police protection, and living in poverty. In many states, to even receive legal documentation respecting their identities, trans people must first undergo sterilizing gender reassignment surgeries, sacrificing their reproductive ability even if they don’t feel it’s an important step to take in their transition, though that reality is slowing improving. Transgender parents have also had their gender identities used to reject them custody of their own children.

Targeted for often-lethal violence. Targeted for harassment with inaccurate demonizing stereotypes. Refused basic access to goods and services. Forced to give up their reproductive ability to be recognized. Denied custody of their own children. It’s not a stretch to see how cultural transphobia could constitute a form of genocide.

I learned about Leelah’s death while traveling and expressed my grief on Twitter as such: “Rejecting the reality of LGBT identities is a form of genocide, an attempt to erase whole communities. Unfortunately, sometimes it works.” Fox News contributor — and no friend to the LGBT community — Erick Erickson felt my tweet was insensitive to Holocaust victims, and encouraged his Twitter followers to think so too.

I have since been inundated with responses from conservatives who largely don’t think I know what words mean. Among the prominent arguments they made was that I was trying to compare the plight of LGBT people to the Holocaust or other genocides like in Rwanda. Of course those events are vastly different, but one need not humor a hierarchy of oppression to oppose all forms of it.

But there was another kind of point that I was trying to make with my Twitter comments. The impact of all forms of LGBT discrimination and rejection can be measured in years of life lost, even if those years aren’t taken directly through the act of mass murder. A pair of recent studies analyzed communities that were not welcoming to people who were gay, lesbian, or bisexual and the LGB people who lived there. LGB people living in unfriendly communities had a life expectancy that was, on average, 12 years shorter than for those LGB people living in more welcoming places. This was largely because of violence, suicide, and even heart attacks, thanks, presumably, to the increased levels of minority stress. The other study in the pair found that the effect even extended to those people who were imposing the homophobia. The effect was more subtle, but those with less tolerant views on homosexuality had a life expectancy that was about 2-3 years shorter than those who were more inclusive.

The same researchers had previously found that for LGB youth, living in a conservative community made them 20 percent more likely to attempt suicide. Likewise, the effect extended to those students who identified as heterosexual too. Living in intolerant communities made them 9 percent more likely to attempt suicide.

Similar studies have not yet been replicated for transgender people, but there’s no reason to believe the results would be much different. We already knowthat transgender people attempt suicide at 25 times the national average.

Neither bullying nor rejection nor discrimination causes suicide. But depression and hopelessness certainly can contribute to suicidal thinking. It’s not hard to glean from her writing that Leelah was very aware of her circumstances and able to articulate them thoughtfully. But she was smothered with intolerance. In her Ohio community, she felt that there was no safe place; she could not find the affirmation she needed at home to believe there was a possibility of living on. “The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren’t treated the way I was,” she wrote, that “they’re treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better. My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say ‘that’s fucked up’ and fix it. Fix society. Please.”

Source

Fix society. Rest in power, Leelah.

[iwondermedia]

Rest in Power Leelah

[tpfnewsdesk-deactivated20181216]

Here Are Some Of The New Laws That Take Effect Around The U.S. In 2015

Tiger selfies are now illegal in New York.

In California, farmers raising egg-laying chickens cannot confine them to cages.

Associated Press

This new law allowing chicks to roam free extends to other states that ship eggs to California, too.

Out-of-state wineries can ship bottles directly to consumers in Massachusetts.

AP

The law was championed by former New England Patriots quarterback-turned-wine connoisseur Drew Bledsoe.

In Utah, cities can no longer ban specific breeds of dogs.

Twitter: @CuteEmergency

In 2014, at least 10 cities in the state banned owning breeds such as pit bulls, the Associated Press reported.

“Yes Means Yes” consent law goes into effect at California colleges.

Associated Press

The law requires “an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.” Any university receiving financial aid must adopt it.

Louisiana law enforcement agencies must disclose the number of untested rape kits.

Getty Images

The law went into effect in August and Louisiana is supposed to report this number by Jan. 1, 2015.

Michigan is cracking down on the buying of large quantities of cold medicine in an effort to control meth production.

Getty Images

The state will now limit the amount of cold medicine consumers can purchase.

In Louisiana, 16 and 17-year-old can now register to vote.

Getty Images

They still can’t cast a ballot until age 18, though.

In New York, you are now required to recycled old computers, video games consoles and televisions.

Nintendo

New Yorkers can’t just throw their old Mac Books into the garbage any more.

In New York, it becomes illegal in February to take a photo with a lion, tiger, or other big cat.

tinderguyswithtigers.tumblr.com

Sorry! No more tiger selfies, New Yorkers!

In Louisiana, smoking will be banned within 25 feet of entrances to state office buildings.

Reuters

Good news for public officials who hate secondhand smoke.

Nevada high school students can be denied driver licenses for skipping too much school.

AP

In California, distributing “revenge porn” will be made illegal.

Getty

The bill, which goes into effect in July, will make it a crime to share someone’s sexually explicit photos, including selfies.

On Jan. 1, the minimum wage goes up in several states, including Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Reuters

And more states will raise their minimum wage in 2015.

In California, undocumented immigrants will be eligible to apply for a driver’s license

Associated Press

The Safe and Responsible Driver Act (AB60) passed in 2013, goes into effect this year.

Gasoline leaf blowers are banned in Los Gatos, California.

Associated Press

The city says it’s getting ride of leaf blowers because they “pollute the air and degrade the quality of life.”

E-cigs must be sold behind the counter in Illinois.

Getty Images

In Illinois, epilepsy will be added to the list of illnesses that can be treated with medical marijuana.

Getty Images

In Iowa, pimps will be fined $1000 under new law passed to crackdown on human trafficking.

iowapublicradio.org

In Oregon, home sellers are required to disclose to buyers if a house was previously a meth lab.

Getty Images

Source: Mike Hayes for Buzzfeed News

[phantograms]

[springwiseintelligence]

Inflatable jacket enables wearers to adjust its warmness according to the weather

Driven by innovations such as 3D printing, the fashion industry is currently undergoing a major shakeup. There’s been a noticeable push to give consumers more control over the clothing they wear — letting them customize and personalize their garments both before and after purchase. It’s no surprise then, to see that same trend carried over into more performance focused garments such as NuDown’s new range. READ MORE…

[mothernaturenetwork]

Habitat for Humanity shifts focus from building new homes to renovating old ones The charitable home-building organization isn’t giving up new construction completely despite a growing number of projects involving foreclosed fixer-uppers.

[dynamicafrica]

This past weekend, SABC2 here in South Africa broadcast an exceptional documentary on the life of Apartheid Activist and South African hero and legend, Pan African Congress president Robert Sobukwe.

Whilst I couldn’t find that particular documentary online, this JourneyMan Pictures documentary does a great job at paying tribute to a man who, beyond South Africa, is not often given the recognition he deserves.

[dynamicafrica]

December 5th marks the day of birth of South African Pan-African leader Robert Sobukwe.

[thepeoplesrecord]

Jim Crow for kids: Schools prepare children for life behind bars March 26, 2013

Gone are the days of children dreading a trip to the principal’s office or spending their lunch time in detention. Instead, children are now facing the possibility of being dragged out of their classrooms in handcuffs for conduct violations, such as a schoolyard brawl or being accused of stealing a student’s lunch money.

Increasingly, children of color and children with learning disabilities are being prepped for a life in the American injustice system as police officers have become as common of a figure at schools as the nurse. After the Newtown massacre in December, police presence in schools across the country jumped leaving the authorities to deal with school children just as they deal with criminals, in an arrangement commonly referred to as the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

Recent cases of criminalization include a 12-year-old junior high student who was handcuffed and arrested for doodling on her desk in New York City; a 13-year-old Florida boy arrested and charged with disrupting a school function after passing gas; and a 6-year-old child handcuffed and arrested for throwing a tantrum in Georgia.

More guns, officers aggravate injustice

In his recent gun control proposal, President Obama slipped in a call to staff schools with police officers, further exacerbating the school-to-prison pipeline that unequally marginalizes black and Latino children. According to a study by the Civil Rights Data Collection—one that covered 85 percent of the nation’s students and 72,000 schools—black students are three and a half times more likely to be arrested than their white peers. The study also showed that 70 percent of students arrested were either black or Latino. Running in sync with the National Rifle Association’s call to put armed guards in every school, Obama’s plan will only intensify the school-to-prison pipeline, endangering children of color across the country.

Students with disabilities are also the victims of these harsh policies. Officers already receive very little training on how to handle suspects with mental disabilities, but even less so when it comes to children. Even though 8.6 percent of children in public schools have been found to have some sort of disability, they make up 32 percent of the youth in detention centers.

In a prison system that author Michelle Alexander has called “The New Jim Crow,” mass incarceration has led to one in six Latino men living behind bars, people of color making up 60 percent of the prisoner population and more black people in prison than there were slaves before the Civil War began. These same principles used to lock up people of color for petty “crimes” have found a way into classrooms, preparing these children for the racist injustice system they are statistically likely to encounter later in life by forcing them into the prison system early.

Not only have more security guards and police officers resulted in more bogus misdemeanor arrests, but they drain the already scarce funding for schools. School districts have spent upwards of $51 million on school security, while other much more vital aspects of education go underfunded, especially in poor urban neighborhoods of color.

A child is not a criminal

School-to-prison pipelines have been under fire recently with the expansion of the police state into elementary and middle schools, especially in places notorious for racial discrimination. In October, Meridian, Mississippi was sued for operating a pipeline where students were denied basic constitutional rights once they were arrested and taken to juvenile court. About 86 percent of the students in the Lauderdale Country School District are black, and every single one of the students referred to the court for violations were students of color. Not only were these students arrested, but they were denied legal representation, detained without probable cause, and weren’t advised of their Miranda rights.

Texas isn’t far behind when it comes to criminalizing students for minor infractions, such as disrupting class. According to The Guardian, the state tallied more than 300,000 Class C misdemeanor arrests in 2010 because of zero-tolerance policies and increased police forces on school grounds.

But this extension of the New Jim Crow has been found to have been the worst and the largest in Florida. According to the Orlando Sentinel, 12,000 students were arrested 13,870 times in public schools last year. Black students made up 46 percent of the referrals, even though they make up only 21 percent of the Florida youth.

According to the Center for Behavioral Health Services and Criminal Justice Research, these arrests make for long-lasting psychological damage to the student. Incarcerated youth are more likely to exhibit symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety issues. Detained students are also more likely to lose ground academically from juvenile detention. According to a study done on inner-city Chicago high school students, those arrested in the first two years of high school were six to eight times more likely to drop out than those who hadn’t been arrested.

Instead of focusing on education, school-to-prison pipeline policies are preparing America’s youth for a life in the injustice system. Scare tactics, zero tolerance policies, and police forces are quickly threatening the future of millions of young students. But this criminalization won’t end for them when they graduate high school because, as Alexander states, “mass incarceration in the United States has, in fact, emerged as a stunningly comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized social control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow.”

- Graciela The Boston Occupier Larger graphic here

[mapsontheweb]

Percent of Internet-Enabled Homes in the United States, 2010

Read More

[letnoorshine-deactivated2021091]

The United States has been in Afghanistan for 13 years, the longest war in US history so far. But can Americans even point out where it is on a map. We decided to ask around on Veteran’s Day. 

"Do You Know Where Afghanistan Is?"

—Had sooo much fun with this shoot! Be sure to share and subscribe!

[iwondermedia]

"...cause I came to move the crowd" (c) Erik B & Rakim || I couldn't help but throw that quote in there. #Platform Founder Hank Williams introducing Lucinda Martinez, SVP Multicultural Marketing HBO

[iwondermedia]

Looking toward the future w/ @bemjoiner at #Platform2014