Commentary Bev Bell, Black Kos Guest Contributer
ON MOTHER’S DAY, REMEMBERING HAITIAN WOMEN
On the day in which we remember and celebrate mothers and women in the U.S., we can do the same for Haitian mothers and women. We can use the occasion to honor the dead and raise up the living.
As for how to raise up the living, Haitian women who survived the January 12 earthquake need all the support and solidarity that we can rally toward their rights, social equity, safety, and dignity. In a survey by this writer, women’s organizations articulated the following priorities: permanent housing; the fulfillment of social needs such as health care, food, and water; employment; protection from rape and violence; trauma recovery; and decision-making in the rebuilding.
Myriam Merlet, a pioneering feminist who died in the earthquake, once shared some thoughts on how to advance women’s agenda. "This society [must] get to a different theory and application of power in all aspects. Of course it’s a utopian dream. But the more people dream, the more likely that power can change. The more people share in the same dream, the more likely we’ll achieve it collectively."
If you want to learn about the dream for new relations of power in Haiti, ask a Haitian woman. If you want to learn about her role in creating it, you may have to ask several times, as she is not likely to volunteer that information. She may not even be conscious of how her daily actions might be contributing to a new balance of power between individuals in society, between men and women, between civil society and the state, and between Haiti and other nations.
Take, for example, the creation of a more nurturing and humane society, where mutual support replaces money-based transactions. Since the earthquake, with international aid for those in need largely missing in action, women en masse have stepped in as first and second responders. Street vendors, factory workers, farmers, professionals, and unemployed, they compose a national force which has sustained hungry, wounded, and abandoned survivors. Though they may be on the razor-thin edge of survival themselves, though they may already be caring for many, women have been finding and cooking food for strangers, taking in children left orphaned and others left homeless, and seeking out medical assistance and health care or improvising their own. Some have taken it upon themselves to organize education or recreation sessions for children, who are not generally not attending the recently reopened schools (most lost their uniforms in the catastrophe and are too tired from night in the camps). ‘It’s just our social obligation,’ said one woman.
Here is another example. With security in the streets and camps ranging from sparse to nonexistent, and with a barely functional justice system, women have taken the initiative in protecting each other, as well as children, from rape and other violence. Some concerned residents of camps offer round-the-clock help to girls and women at risk. They even jeopardize their own security to step in when rapes and beatings are underway. One grassroots group uses whatever money it can find to pay for bus fare so that at-risk girls in Port-au-Prince can return to their families in the countryside. Feminist organizations engage in what they call ‘accompaniment’, offering paths for battered and raped women to record their attack and get emotional, psychological, and medical care.
Women are also core to the social movement now working to change power so that economic justice, rights, and self-determination are guaranteed. Though their names may not appear on the formal declarations or their voices in the press conference, women spanning all social classes and regions are speaking up and organizing for a reconstruction that is not just about infrastructure, but also about citizen participation and social and economic rights. Rural women are advocating food sovereignty so that farmers – the majority of the population – can both support themselves and feed the nation, while avoiding national dependence on food aid.
On another recent day commemorating women, International Women’s Day on March 8, hundreds of women – most of them now living in refugee camps and on the streets – gathered on a freshly bulldozed lot. Until January 12, on the property stood a building which bustled with the energy of women organizing. It was the Ministry on the Status and Rights of Women, created by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1994. For 16 years, the ministry headquarters stood as a symbol of what women have done and can do to change their lives and those of their compatriots. Today the empty lot stands as a symbol of Haitian women’s challenges and determination as they keep alive hope for their people, their country, and new paradigms of power.
Happy Mother’s Day to them and you.
Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, www.otherworldsarepossible.org, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. She sent this commentary from Haiti where she is currently working.
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The Urban Educational System
Sephius1, Black Kos Editor
Last week we discussed the safety, health, & environmental issues that plaque the inner city. We talk about the journey an inner city kid has to take — from home to school — and the daily struggles attached to that journey like being exposed to drugs, abuse, deviant behavior, and unsanitary living and school conditions.
This week we'll take a look at how financial resources tie in at different points along the journey. Just to rehash where we are at:
Safety, Health, and the Environment − this includes drugs and other substances that can be abuse, sexually abuse, bullying, dilapidated housing, school buildings and community infrastructures.
Financial Resources − this includes the poverty levels of the students, surrounding community, and the resources the school has available.
People Resources − this includes the identifying the different learning levels of students early, their socio-economic status, those who play parental roles, inter-personal relationships, self-image.
This also includes hiring compotent teachers, having a reward process in place for teachers who do well in the classroom, instead linking a teachers livelyhood to the number of students they pass, getting teachers to think out of the box, and have more robust training for teachers to keep their skill up to date.
Solutions − I will propose solutions in this section to help develop a strategy at the school level.
1.2 Financial Resources
− Family −
Inner city kids are introduced, fairly early, to the concept of managing financial resources. Their first encounter is often with food, and clothing. A refrigerator that's never full, and stomach that's never quite full, gives a child a first hand account of just how intertwined finances are to their lives — down to controlling whether they eat, or not.
In area of clothing, or more general, outwardly appearance, lies a true sore spot. The reason being that while you can hide your hunger, you can't hide the fact you might be wearing shoes that are falling apart, or clothing with holes in them because they are hand−me−downs. I can recall my mom, brother, and I going over to "big momma house" on occassion to pick threw some old clothes that had belong to her kids. We also would eat a good meal every once in a while, because our refrigerator was empty often. And during rough months (when our lights where turned off; we had an electric water tank), thus no hot water, we would get early to go take a bath at big momma's. Now, big momma wasn't my grandma, but was a "grandmotherly" figure of community. We don't have those anymore. There was a time, especially in black community, when the mother's of the commuinty would pray over the children, if a young girl got pregnant the mothers would show her how to take care of the baby, how to change diapers, feeding, cooking, and pressing her to finish school as to not become a statistic. The father's of the community handled the young man by teaching him different trades, the value of a dollar and a long days work, to not cut corners. Those days are long gone. Nowadays, "big momma" is 30 yrs old, trying download music to her ipod, trying to find her a man. Just ridiculous.
Medical issues also introduce kids to how family finances can be road blocks to staying healthy. For a child's first visit to an emergency room, they see others that may be in the same financial situation. As we all know emergency rooms are increasingly being used as a form of free health. The long waits, having no insurance, and interferences by HMOs, all lend themselves to a less than memorable visit.
− Community −
One of the first things you notice in the inner city is the urban decay. It's caused by things like white flight, redlining, and urban sprawl. White flight, in my opinion, is actually more devastating because it is based on perception and it reinforces bad stereotypes. Instead of staying and standing along with the minority community when fighting crime, and deviant behavour, whites fled. One of the results was that financial resources were removed from the community. That means less money to pay for law enforcement, and crime ultimately increases. High crime areas turn off businesses from setting up shop in the inner city. Less businesses means less job opportunity. Without job opportunities, people do not have money to buy homes. And with less businesses, and low home ownership, the amount of property taxes collected decrease, which means less resources for the schools to do renovations, buy books, fund after school programs, and pay teachers. Redlining, and urban sprawl, ensures that property values stay low and that certain class of people are kept from advancing. Throw in dilapidated buildings, gentrification, liquor stores on every block, inadequate grocery stores, and some payday loan companies and it's no wonder inner city kids have it bad.
As we see, finances are often used to plug up holes in the ship, that is, inner city life, rather than being used to build a new ship, that is, an inner city that reflects the good of its' community.
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This weeks News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Nas has been doing some good things in West Africa. CNN: Nas feels a connection to Liberia.
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When it comes to tough-to-watch subjects, the aftermath of more than a decade of civil war is one of them, but rapper Nas says he has started to pay attention.
The 36-year-old artist feels a connection to the amputee victims in the recovering African country of Liberia because he, too, saw a fair share of violence growing up in New York's Queensbridge housing project. But he readily states in an "E:60" profile of the amputees that his "realities were like a walk in the park compared to what these kids go through in other countries."
Nas will lend his distinctive voice as well as his music to the profile of the war survivors, who have come together as the Liberian National Amputee soccer team, airing Tuesday night on ESPN's "E:60." The players bear the scars of the country's 14 years of civil wars, conflicts so violent that they claimed more than 250,000 lives.
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U.S. lawmakers are poised to pass legislation aimed at helping Haiti rebuild its quake-shattered economy. Miami Herald:
In Haiti a desperate plea for jobs answered
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Haiti's desperate plea for jobs is poised to get a huge boost Wednesday when U.S. lawmakers from both chambers and parties approve legislation aimed at bolstering long-term investments in Haiti's textile and apparel market by giving the Caribbean nation greater access to the U.S. clothing market.
The expansion of the trade preferences would allow Haiti to triple its duty-free access for knits and woven fabrics -- while extending the benefits well into the next decade. In 2006, Congress passed the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act to boost Haitian exports to the United States. It was then modified. This is the third modification.
It's a move Haitian officials had been pushing for well before the Jan. 12 catastrophic quake but pursued in earnest after the devastation shattered what little there was of Haiti's economy, and leaving 1.3 million Haitians homeless.
``I heartly welcome this latest move by such a broad coalition of both parties and of both houses of the U.S. Congress to help attract massive investment to Haiti in the textile sector,'' President René Préval told The Miami Herald.
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If you're black and think that state's new immigration law has nothing to do with you, think again. The Root: Why Blacks Should Be Outraged at Arizona's Immigration Law.
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A law that makes people suspects on the basis of their looks should outrage African Americans, even if they are worried about illegal immigration.
The immigration law passed in Arizona last week is the kind of reckless act that keeps us minorities paranoid in America. The new law compels local law enforcers to verify immigration status based on "reasonable suspicion"--whatever that is--and has created the potential for cops to stop brown people in the streets and demand to see their papers. Even the sheriff of Pima County, Ariz., (which borders Mexico) says the law is "stupid," "racist," and would force his officers to racially profile people. The scope of the law was narrowed after its passage in order to assure Hispanics, who make up 30 percent of the state's population, that they would not be the victims of racial profiling.
But those assurances that people won't be suspects because of the way they look have little credibility when the experience of black and brown people in America has been so contrary to those promises. Being stopped for Driving While Black (or Brown) is such a common phenomenon that comedians make jokes about it. And a city like New York, which operates a massive stop-and-frisk policy that probably violates a dozen constitutional principles, keeps trying to explain why black and brown citizens make up 80 to 90 percent of those questioned by police. The latest rationale: They fit the description of suspected perps when 98 percent of those stopped and questioned are innocent of any crime.
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We have a deep respect for other cultures, but practices that DISRESPECT woman have to change. LA TIMES: Tall girls, more cattle
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The man in the orange sunglasses and a fur hat with earflaps seemed more like a jazz musician on a cigarette break than a tribal chief, but as soon as he spoke, village men gathered for a lesson on brides, poor boys and cattle.
The shade was just right. John Modi Jubek crossed his legs, striking as regal a pose as a chief can when he's sitting in a plastic chair. It was odd to him that a stranger didn't know the Mundari tribe smiles more upon tall women than on short ones. A father may love his diminutive daughters, but affection does not bring longhorns and riches.
"Tall girls fetch more cattle because their daughters will quickly grow and can be married off to fetch even more cattle," said the chief, shooing a stubborn fly. "A tall girl can command 60 to 100 cattle from a suitor. A short girl may get 20 head, and, sometimes, short girls overstay their welcome in the father's home and end up fetching only five cattle. By then, a tall girl has already borne five children."
The chief paused, letting daughter-cattle ratios sink in. The men shook their heads at his calculations.
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A sad sign of our times. Cincinnati Enguirer: The annual convention of the National Conference of Black Mayors has been postponed because many who planned to attend say their cities can’t afford the trip.
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The annual gathering of African American leaders was planned for May 12-16 and would have coincided with Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Game weekend in Cincinnati.
But in a letter, the group said it received "an overwhelming response" from its members saying they could not afford the expense "due to the economic stress of their communities and city budgets."
The group said it will move the event to October to give its members time to organize bus rides and raise money to make the trip.
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A number of states have passed similar laws. AP: Hair-braiding bill offers regulatory compromise
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Oumou Wague has been braiding hair in her Chicago shop for more than a decade, carrying on a tradition passed down for generations in her native Senegal. To braiders, her talent for weaving women's hair into elaborate styles isn't just a livelihood, it's an art form.
But in the eyes of state regulators, it's also illegal.
Illinois requires hair braiders to get a cosmetology degree — which can take 1,500 hours and cost $15,000 — and then apply for a license, just like people who give haircuts, manicures and facials. Proponents say the rules are needed to protect consumers if they develop problems such as hair loss or have service complaints.
But the law seems ridiculous to many braiders, the majority of whom are African and African-American women who learned as children and have refined their talent in kitchens and on stoops for generations.
"Hair braiding is not cosmetology," said Alie Kabba, executive director of the Chicago-based United African Organization. "You cannot ask an engineer to get a degree in history."
In a clash between rules and tradition, hundreds of braiders have chosen to ignore the law — including Wague, who said threats by state regulators to shut down her shop forced her to go underground, working only with established clients.
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Race Talk: Cyber racism on college campuses
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Racism on college campuses these days often spreads through email or via popular social networking sites, such as Facebook. This new medium for racist expression is forcing universities to reconsider what it means to provide a safe space on campus for all students. My research on cyber racism indicates that this is a growing problem in the U.S., and a recent incident at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UM-D) illustrates a few of the relevant issues.
Here’s what happened at UM-D. Two first year students, self-described white girls, began a Facebook wall conversation after an African-American classmate entered the room where they were studying. More on what they typed to each other via the local news in Duluth:
One of the posts read, "ewww a obabacare (sic) is in the room, i feel dirty, and unsafe. keep a eye on all of your valuables and dont make direct eye contact....i just threw up in my mouth right now ..."
In another post, one of the women wrote, "were two white girls..she already has her (N-word) instinct to kill us and use us to her pleasure ..."
In the past, this sort of conversation between two white students might have happened in handwritten notes passed in class. While some may view such overt expressions of racism a thing of the past, overtly racist comments often occur – even today – in the "backstage" (white-only space), as research by Leslie Pouts-Hicca and Joe Feagin demonstrates. Social media has changed all that now. As more white people spend time online, they forget that the comments they think they’re making in the "backstage" (white-only spaces) are easily made public and shared in the "frontstage" by people who do not share their views (or, have other agendas). As more of these expressions of overt racism come to light, it forces all of us to decide again and again what is socially acceptable and what isn’t, especially on college campuses. The question for colleges and universities is also what can and should be done about incidents like this one?
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RIP: Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Dies At 58.
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[] Of Course Nativism is Racist! by Marja E
[] SistahSpeak by Robinswing
[] Oldest Black Fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha to Boycott Arizona by BlkPantherScholar
[] RentBigot.com by JeffLieber
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Friday Wake Up Music --- South Africa - Music Legends - Ladysmith Black Mambazo