Sometimes I cry when reading the news. I cry because so many horrendous things happen to people and I can’t possibly understand why this world is SUCH a horrible place. There are countless stories about the negative stereotypes and police brutality that Black men must endure… but this really broke
Continue readingTag: Racism
Politics, Re-Spun: Mandela Was More Radical Than Most Know
Well, I miss Mandela. The post-Mandela world is sadly less colourful. While all sorts of people, including reprobate politicians in Canada laud him for this and that, it’s important to remember that he never seemed to angle for being a darling of right wing, neoliberal libertarian freedom fighters. Here are
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Just How Lazy ARE Indigenous People, Anyway?
It’s a trick question. And let’s not forget how many of us are told we are inherently lazy because we are native. Hard to shake that. via Twitter / apihtawikosisan: And let’s not forget how many …. And if you want to read one person’s analysis of destructive, racist stereotypes,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Ending Homelessness: Easy If You Simply Care
If we are a caring society. If we acknowledge that there are a myriad of reasons why a community’s homeless population is homeless. If we thought we should invest our tax dollars and take advantage of good research, good experience, good pilot projects and professionals to address homelessness and other
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: ACTION: Illegal Israeli Settlement Goods Sold at London Drugs
SodaStream boycott informational picket Saturday, Dec. 21, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. London Drugs, Broadway @ Cambie, Vancouver Below is a notice of an important event happening on Saturday in Vancouver. If something is labelled as “Made in Israel” but is really made in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Fried Squirrels
It’s a crisp, foggy November Saturday morning in the south side of the city. Seventeen people sit in the large open area at the back end of an organic fair trade coffee shop run by a workers’ co-op inspired by the Mondragon movement in Spain. Meet-ups like this are quite
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: You Can Vote, But You Can’t Travel in Canada
This situation is BS. A Manitoba MP is crying discrimination after two aboriginal women were not allowed to board a plane with her, even though they had tickets. Niki Ashton, who represents the Churchill riding for the NDP, said Gail and Joyce Nepinak were scheduled to fly to Ottawa from
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Nelson Mandela and What That Giant Meant To Me
When I heard the news that Nelson Mandela had died at first I was sad, like billions of people all over the world. For he was my greatest living hero, and somehow I had hoped that he would live forever. “Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,”
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day One, Post-Mandela
Today is the first day of our world after the Nelson Mandela era. We don’t need to canonize him or consider any messiah characteristics, but we should stop today and reflect on what kind of Mandela legacy we want to carry forward. Here are a few ideas to consider. Chances
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Are We Good Allies to First Nations?
This is what solidarity looks like; make sure it’s authentic! Lots of us care about deepening relationships with and social/economic/political justice for first peoples. It’s hard to come in, though, sometimes as a person from an oppressor or settler class. But there is a good checklist to make sure we’re
Continue readingdrive-by planet: The face of Israel we don’t see in Canadian mainstream media
In the light of Stephen Harper’s announcement of an upcoming visit to Israel, it might be worth taking a closer look at the country he will be visiting. Coverage of Israel’s apartheid-like policies isn’t readily available via Canadian mainstream media outlets. Instead we get stories such as the report in
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Does Racism Motivate Harper’s Aboriginal Education Funding Stance?
The Prime Minister’s slow clap. It could be racism. It could be concern that over time too many first nations citizens may get too educated and start demanding more in terms of inter-national justice. Or… It could be just that he thinks keeping government spending down is good for his
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Max Blumenthal’s Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel – reviews: liberal hypocrisy on Israel
Max Blumenthal‘s Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel is a remarkable and courageous book that reveals hard truths about Israel’s dark side. What makes Goliath especially impressive is the amount of time Max Blumenthal spent in Israel and the occupied West Bank in order to gather information and get
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Oh Lily Allen…no… just no
1) I’m sure you didn’t specify “Black bootylicious Twerkers” but I’m POSITIVE you casted for a “look” that your itsy bitsy -can’t-see-beyond-stereotypes- brain can’t comprehend at the moment. 2) Of course you aren’t going to send them away when you found exactly what you were attempting to portray. The intent
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Lurks Down Under
By some accounts Australians have become the wealthiest people on earth, largely from flogging massive quantities to coal to China. Yet not all Australians are well off, especially not the first Australians, the aborigines. Asia Times brings to light the little town of Wilcannia, winner of the national Tidy Town
Continue readingMelissa Fong: SNL and Black female comedians
Kerry Washington hosted SNL tonight and she was good. They poked fun about this scandal- that SNL didn’t hire any black women. That was a funny enough sketch. But what I found MOST refreshing was that we got to see a black woman just act and not have to be
Continue readingBlevkog: It’s Not the End of the World
His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Maria the ‘mystery’ Roma girl and Madeleine McCann… racist underside of news coverage
Maria posters and headline/Maria’s biological mother Sasha Ruseva A story from Greece about a four year-old ‘mystery girl’ named Maria has been making headlines in the mainstream media. Maria who is fair-haired was living in the care of a Roma couple who happen to be dark complexioned. This created suspicions
Continue readingLeDaro: Racism: Washington Redskins Football Team
Natives find the term Redskins highly offense. It has the historic background as follows: “Back not so long ago, when there was a bounty on the heads of the Indian people…the trappers would bring in Indian scalps along with the other skins that they had managed to trap or shoot.
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Chief Bill Wilson’s Voice Rings True. It Always Has!
Chief Bill Wilson speaks truth, in this Vancouver Province editorial, as he all has. His strength and clarity always rang true for me and I would be happy if we heard more from this fine man. Chief Bill Wilson-An exceptional man British Columbia was built on the evil foundation of
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