kaffy_r | Entries tagged with rights for everyone

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

I went looking for an image of Dr. King to share today, one that might comfort me, and allow me to remember a true, tough, complicated, radical American hero.

The image I chose was of the King memorial in downtown Washington, D.C.

Look at him. He isn't calm. He isn't accomodating. He isn't kumbayah in the least.

He is angry. He's holding back that anger, employing all the patience he can. He's angry at us. He's angry at me.

He has every right to be angry. And he will not be moved.

This is the man who worked tirelessly for civil and human rights, despite being cursed at, being shot at, being jailed, having his home bombed, having his country call him an outside agitator because he would not stay silent about American racism, American violence.

This is the man who angered those in power when he pivoted from civil rights as he sought to bring working class whites and blacks together for economic justice; when he spoke out against the Vietnam war; when he turned from having a dream to knowing how that dream might end.

He could be gentle, but that wasn't all he was. If it had been all he was, he would have been smothered and quickly dismissed. He knew what he risked by being stubborn, by being persistent, by staying angry at the wrongs of this country. He knew what he risked by being focused on working to eradicate those wrongs. Like John Lewis, he understood the need for getting into good trouble.

Not unlike Malcolm X, really.

That's why so many people still hate him. Those who don't hate him, and even those who idolize a sanitized version of him, are made uncomfortable by him and by the truths he preached.

Remember this man - the angry, determined, stubborn, righteous man. And let's all promise to do better.

Current Mood: angry
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: the furnace

Readying My Martini

Yep - 20 minutes to go before The Former Guy has to submit himself for booking on Georgia felony charges.

In a jail. Publicly.

With a mug shot.

I don't care if it sounds petty. I'm celebrating. Even if he somehow escapes a guilty verdict, he'll never forget the day he had to be finger-printed and mug-shotted in a rancid and dangerous jail. Being held to the same rules as other accused criminals for the first time in his miserable, corrupt, law-breaking, democracy-destroying life.

Thank you, Fani Willis.

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: MSNBC

Hither, Thither, and Yon

I'm still sluggish about posting; apparently another case of not having the spoons to do either thing. I look back on the years when I posted daily, and wonder where that energy went. Looking at some of the posts, I also wonder why on earth I thought some of my subjects were worth addressing.

Ah, well. It's April 8, and I am here. What can I tell you about life chez Casa

kaffy_r ?

We're reeling just a tad from the evolving political landscape here in the U.S. - one or two things that are happily positive, and more that are unbelievably negative.

Among the negatives:

( Ewww )
Then again, there were positives:

( woo-hoo! )

And there you have entirely too much information. I hope life is proceeding positively apace for all of you.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: the home office

Raphael Warnock Wins

51-49 for the Dems in the Senate. Despite every damn bit of voter suppression that the racist authoritarian Jim Crow asshats could throw at the wall. Not enough of it stuck, ya bastids.

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Location: the living room
Current Music: MSNBC

Alex and Donald and A ~~Little~~ Half-Ton of Comeuppance
Also ... hi! I'm Still Here.

Hi there ... I'm still here. I've done a bunch of good things, and suffered a lot of insecurities about things I didn't do. We've dealt with blocked toilets, unruly automotive serpentine belts, water heater replacements for our building, and I've enjoyed increasing my non-cursive prowess during my most recent political postcard writing adventures (200 postcards to likely or possible Democratic voters in North Carolina. w00t!!1!).

Y'all know that I'm kind of political. Recently, I wanted to take the jump and become an American citizen, with any luck, before the 2024 general elections. Alas, it takes money. I figured I'd be able to save up for that; it costs over $700 to try for citizenship (although I think it may be less than it once was, or my memory tells me something like that.). Well, in the last two days, I've spent about $600 on the toilet and the car, and once again, I'm back in the "probably not going to be able to pay for citizenship" dept. I wondered today if it might be possible to do a GoFundMe to get enough to pay for the citizenship process, but I think there are other people out there with needs far more dire than mine, and it feels a little - no, a lot - presumptuous.

Right now, I'm taking comfort in the string of Very Bad Days The Former Guy has experienced. I'll just link to a couple of news articles, but I'm not going waste my own breath or space here, opining about it.

Well, except to rub my hands and go "E-e-e-e-excellent!"/Mr. Burns.

Meanwhile, back on Oct. 12, Alex Jones, the despicable lie and supplement peddler has been ordered by a Connecticut jury to pay almost a billion-with-a-b dollars to parents to family members of Sandy Hook shooting massacre victims, and to an FBI agent who responded to the scene, for past and future pain and suffering. That's on top of the millions a Texas jury ordered him in August to pay to one child's parents. And we have to wait until next month for the judge to announce punitive damages in the case. While he's claiming bankruptcy and boasting no one will get him to stop spewing his poisons, I think he's probably staring at his bedroom ceiling every night, worrying and whimpering as the stink of flop sweat makes his entire house unlivable. Good.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Alex Wagner on MSNBC

Monday Meanderings (Since I Can't Think of a Better Headline)

( Brief mental health discussion, should you wish to skip )

Still plugging away at the NaNo novel, ever closer to its end, and also working on my original piece from back a while. I'm using July's Camp NaNoWriMo to try and complete it, aiming for a 25,000 word novella. I'm doing my normal figure-it-out-as-I-go-along foolishness, but I'm pretty sure I know where it's going, and probably where it's going to end. That's a plan, right?

( Taking to the streets, part 3 )

BB and I are waiting for a call from one of his neuros, to tell him when he'll get the first shots in his legs. He should get the call this week. That can't come a moment too soon, because his legs hurt so badly now that he can't really sit or stand for more than a few minutes at a time.

And finally, I'm still getting up early (for me, at least: 7:15-7:45 a.m.) and getting out for a walk. I've missed a couple of days, but not that many. It feels good. I sometimes walk south to visit the chicken coop people; sometimes I head north, a lot of times I head east, although I haven't walked all the way to the lake yet.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Air conditioning; wonderful, wonderful AC

Quisling: It's a Thing, Y'all

Below the cut is a picture of the sign I carried at the Post-Roe rally and march in downtown Chicago this Friday.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

The Bastards Did It

Five old men and one quisling woman took away every woman's right to bodily autonomy.

They don't care about babies. They don't care that women won't stop having abortions - women will just stop having safe abortions. They don't care that women will die. They don't care that women will be forced to bear children against their will.

Of course, they don't care.

Here's what they care about.

They want to move this country back to when white men were in charge of everything; to when only white women had any freedoms, and those were limited; to when black and brown people had to sit in the back of the bus or risk their lives; back when LGBTQ+ people had to stay in the shadows or risk theirs.

They want the Good Old White Boy Days.

They've been proving it for years, of course, and most of us white middle-class folk ignored all the signs, more fools us. This is just the largest, cruelest, most merciless kick-in-the-teeth proof.

Alito. Thomas. Roberts. Gorsuch. Kavanaugh. Coney Barrett.

Fuck you, you of The Anti-Woman Six. Fuck every single one of you,

We won't go back.

Current Mood: enraged
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: blood pounding in my ears

It's a Start

I forgot to post this earlier this week. On Saturday, I attended the second of two Chicago marches in support of abortion and other reproductive rights with my friend Rose (she's on the right.)

There were hundreds of us, thousands* of us: men, women, our trans siblings, non-binary people, white, black, brown and tan. We white cishet women of generally middle- or upper class economic status have a shit ton of work to do to be better allies to our POC siblings, but this march gave me hope that we might actually be able to do that.

The weather forecasters initially predicted rain and thunderstorms during the entirety of our rally and march. Instead, the sun shone all the way through, from Union Park** on Chicago's near West Side to the east side of the Loop. I'm sure the weather gods were on our side, even if the sun did leave me with a sunburn I'm still dealing with.

This summer is going to be the Summer of Rage. I'll be there.

*I'm pissed off with local news reports, which set the attendance at "about 1,000." That's exactly the same number they reported for the previous Saturday's march. I attended both, and I can tell you (putting on my reporter's cap; I had to estimate a lot of crowds in my day) that the second march was much, much larger. This leads me to guess at reasons, and every reason is rage-inducing. It's either a case of lazy writing, which might also include accepting at face value police estimates - which is fraught, given police bias against progressive marches - or it's straight up police misestimating.

**(it's called Union park, because it's in the midst of a number of union headquarters. It made me proud to be a union member.)

Current Mood: determined
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: "All In With Chris Hayes" MSNBC

No More Secrets

( Talk of abortion below )

Current Mood: morose
Current Location: the living room

May Day

Here in the U.S. and up in Canada, corporate greed-head capitalists and their political minions decided they'd move Labor's holy day from May 1 to September, because they were scared to death of the international labor movement. As well they should have been, and should still be.*

Rather than me go on at utterly mind-numbing length, here's music to celebrate the day, because the revolution should always have music.

I don't mind sharing "The Internationale", because a) this is Billy Bragg's version and b) folks who connect the song to the USSR and/or Russia forget that the Revolution over there was betrayed by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov almost before it drew its first breath.* And the words are pretty inspiring.

Watch on YouTube

I share these two versions of Woody Guthrie's "Union Maid" because that's who I have striven to be all my working life. Pete Seeger's version will never not be wonderful, even if some of Woody's words are a tad ... let's go with old-fashioned (Pete's last lines in this version made me giggle; it's clear he thought the whole "auxiliary" bit was worth at least a little eye-roll.)

Watch on YouTube

The second version was done at Pete's 90th birthday celebration, features Bragg again, among wonderful others, and updates the words a bit.

Watch on YouTube

And finally, you have to ask yourself - "Which Side Are You On"?

Watch on YouTube

*Fucking capitalists
**Fucking Lenin

Current Mood: angry
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Pete Seeger, "Which Side Are You On?"

"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"

Today, the official day we commemorated the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we heard a lot about his "I Have A Dream" speech, and that speech is absolutely part of the American landscape, as it should be.

But what too many of us - too many school kids, too many adults, too many union members, too many progressives - have never heard is the speech Rev. King made on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. He gave it at Riverside Church in New York, a speech his friend and fellow activist Vincent Gordon Harding drafted on his behalf, and he made it his own.

It excoriated the Vietnam War as inherently immoral because of what it did across the Pacific, and what it allowed the powers that be in this country to ignore at home. It pinpointed the evils of American exceptionalism, it stated baldly that America's interference in other country's attempts to be free - as Americans felt they had a right to do in 1776 - would lead to America's destruction as a moral and ethical society. And it stated that racism, poverty and war must all be faced and fought.

As the Wikipedia article blandly notes, King lost support from White liberals, unionists (to their shame), previously sympathetic politicians and even other African American civil rights activists.

He was no longer The Good Negro, who could be depended upon for quiet and polite nonviolence, as opposed to Malcolm X. He was never that to begin with, but White America, the part of it that didn't outright hate King and wish for his death, told itself that that's what he was.

He must have known this would mean he would, once again, be hated and vilified (although he was hurt by those in the civil rights movement who abandoned him.) He must have known that those American politicians and law enforcers would hate him even more, and would redouble their efforts to silence him.

He must have known that the hatred might lead - might well lead - to his death.

And he gave it nonetheless, because he knew it was the truth, and the country he loved despite itself needed to hear it.

Listen, please. It's a little over 56 minutes long. He gives it, not with the passion of "I Have A Dream", but with the steady, sonorous, unsparing voice of the God in which he believed. Don't let that steady drone dissuade you; listen to his words.

This should be taught in every American classroom. There's a reason it isn't.

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: impressed
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: my own thoughts
Crossposts: https://kaffy-r.livejournal.com/608392.html

Which Side Are You On?

Most of the world celebrates Labor Day in May. In North America, it's the first Monday in September. So here we are.

This year, a year in which we can't pretend we aren't a country split between compassion and cruelty, between ignorance and understanding, between equity and oppression, between progress and regression - between caring for each other and letting capitalism crush us - in this year, we need to fight.

I don't speak from a position of moral or ethical strength. I run from the fight more than I stand with those who struggle. But I know the struggle is crucial.

It can be supporting strike funds, or getting out the vote through phone banks, or showing up at school board meetings to stand against racist snowflakes, or putting money into getting women to abortion clinics when their state has tried to control their bodies.

It's all those things and more. So ask yourself. Which side are you on?

Here are some links to people, organizations and ways you can help. It is by no means complete. If you've got some other links, let me know, and I'll add them.( Link heavy. Including musical links. )

Current Mood: determined
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: "Which Side Are You On?"
Crossposts: https://kaffy-r.livejournal.com/596991.html

Two Hundred Forty Five Years

We here in the U.S. often tend to think that's a fairly long time for a country to endure.

It isn't.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: the home office
Crossposts: https://kaffy-r.livejournal.com/585459.html

Yes!

( Under here )

Current Mood: thankful
Current Location: the livingroom
Current Music: MSNBC: Joy Reid and Chris Hayes
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/577437.html

2020: the year of "Oh, Fuck Off."

That's how I've come to think of this hell year. The most recent "Oh, fuck off" I've given came a few minutes ago, when something ate my original post. As is always the case, I know that that post would have been much more erudite, civilized and amusing than this one. Leave it to 2020 to eat a post. Fuck you, 2020, I'm going to write another post! *eyes narrow, daring the year to do anything more to my post*.

( Under here lies my rant )

Current Mood: irritated
Current Location: my bedroom
Current Music: YouTube
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/570396.html

Joe Biden Has Won.

Yes, we still have to win the two senate seats in Georgia.
Yes, we have to gut McConnell's power by those wins.
Yes, more than 70 million people voted for racism and misogyny.
Yes, we need to push Biden further to the left.
Yes, we need to shove Pelosi left with him.

But Joe Biden has won.
He won with 74 million-plus people.

We have won.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: MSNBC
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/568509.html

Rest in Peace Ruth Bader Ginsburg

God DAMN.
GOD DAMN

And also ...

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

Current Mood: distressed
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Kurt Elling
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/565066.html

I Need A Tiny Notebook

If I had one, something small enough to tuck into my back jeans pocket, or my front shirt pocket, I could pull it out and jot down the thoughts I have that make me go "Oh, I need to talk about that, I need to post my thoughts," when I have the thoughts, and then I could, you know, post about my thoughts, because I wouldn't have forgotten it. This is not necessarily what would happen, I know, knowing myself as I do. But still ....

I finished watching the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. I have thoughts. Of course I have thoughts.

( Way too many thoughts, really. )

Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/563918.html

From Sea to Shining Sea, Damn It

Today is the Fourth of July. Independence Day. Normally, I try to write something about it that is joyful, or at least hopeful. How I can do it this year is beyond me.

( Much difficult thought below. )

Current Mood: distressed
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Glen Miller

My Brother the Cop

In what is surely the universe's warning to me about creating badly written and structurally unsound posts, replete with unnecessary phrasing and unneeded facts that would, ultimately, serve only to muddy the metaphysical waters, my original attempt at this one disappeared. I have no idea when or how, since I had the tab open and unfiddled-with for a day or so. Checked in this morning and - hey-presto! - it was gone. Thank you, universe.

No. Really. Thank you. I needed to do a better, tighter, more direct job. That didn't happen, but I do think this is a better post than my original effort.

My younger brother is a retired cop.

( More underneath. )

So I end this with two thoughts.

Look for the occasional good cop apple. They're out there, trying not to drown in the Fucking Racist, Classist, Misogynist Ocean of Shit that is modern policing. Get them out of that ocean, and tell them "It's time for you to help drain that FRCMOofS and create something newer and better." I think they will be eager to help.

And, more immediately, read this New York Times article on William J. Lewinski, the reprehensible (there's that word again) prophet of American policing's "shoot first, cover it up later" philosophy. Many thanks to

minoanmiss , who brought this guy to my notice back on May 31, and who advocated sending the PoS a message about how he is, in fact, a PoS peddling "Us Against Humanity" attitudes among police he trains - the snicker quotes around the word trains are more than implied - and suggesting that he, you know, STOP RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. You may well have seen this and done that, because I am, as usual, late to the party, but if you haven't - here you go.

Write your note and email it here: https://www.forcescience.org/contact.

Current Mood: determined
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Hambone's Blues Party, WDCB Radio
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/559949.html

Lori Lightfoot

According to the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times, Lori Lightfoot has overwhelmingly won the election to become Mayor of Chicago. She is only the third African American to hold the position, the second woman, and the first openly gay candidate. She's also the most progressive candidate.

It would have been a win-win situation as far as our household was concerned; Lightfoot's opponent was Toni Preckwinckle, a black woman who is the first woman president of the Cook County Board, as well as being the head of the Cook County Democratic Party. She had her own progressive history as a Chicago alderman, and although that cred had eroded over the years as she rose in the party heirarchy, it wasn't gone.

But Lightfoot was our choice, and she has won.

She has inherited a city with huge financial problems, one with a horrendous history of systemic racism that is especially glaring in the way its police department operates (as far as this union maid is concerned, the Fraternal Order of Police is one of the few bad unions.)

But she knows that. And I think she's willing to put in the work, and she's tough enough to take on some of the bad faith operators.

Here's the editorial from the Sun-Times when that paper (my old, old paper, and the one I still feel more attuned to than my last employer) endorsed her. It's a beautiful piece of editorial writing, and it therefore puts the case beautifully for Lori Lightfoot.

This is the first time, since Harold Washington's two mayoral wins back in the 1980s that I've felt this hopeful about my city. Come to think of it, it's one of the few times since November of 2016 that I've felt politically hopeful. (Winning back the House in D.C. this year was only half the battle, so my happiness was definitely measured.)

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: the livingroom
Current Music: Lori Lightfoot's acceptance speech
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/518581.html

Transgender Day of Remembrance

The official day of remembrance, at least here in the U.S., is almost over. But that's OK. We need to remember - I need to remember - every day of the year. And more - I need to speak out against transgender violence, whether that's hate speech, emotional and legal violence, physical violence, or any other kind of deliberate, direct, indirect or unthinking marginalization and minimization. I need to do it even when it's uncomfortable for me to do it. Because my discomfort is pretty small compared to what these human beings, my brothers, sisters and siblings, deal with.

These stories say more than I can.

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Going to bed
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/472318.html

I Know Which Side I'm On

Seven years ago, I found these songs on YouTube. Although they don't speak directly to the issue of working people and their place in our society, they certainly stand in judgement of those who would — and did — wreck the lives of untold numbers of working people, all for love of gold. Declaring that loving gold over humanity is wrong is at least one of the pillars supporting the dignity of working men and women.

( Under here )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: the livingroom
Crossposts: https://kaffyr.livejournal.com/462494.html

I Am Silent In the Face of Heartbreak

Every year, I try to write something about this country on July 4, because I love it.

(Oh sure, you do,

kaffy_r ... how come you're not a citizen?)

But this year, after eight months of surreality -

(What makes a country great? What makes it great again? How can it become great for the first time?)

I find that I cannot.

(Some must think that makes me a traitor. Some must think I must be spineless. Some must think it makes me a patriot. I think it makes me confused.)

I still love it.

(Can't figure out why, except that it's still got a chance to be great, and isn't that almost enough?)

So I turn to music.

This man's guitar killed fascists.

Watch on YouTube

This man was prescient in so many ways, but he was wrong about the revolution. Or maybe he'll still be right. It's apparently the counter-revolution that's being televised.

Watch on YouTube

This American Woman slays - and she frightens racists.

Watch on YouTube

And this one ... I forgive him for forgetting that there were a lot of folks here when the Mayflower arrived, because ... because, because, because, and partly because of the beauty of their two voices. Every year this one makes me weep more.

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Going to watch fireworks
Crossposts: http://kaffyr.livejournal.com/457722.html

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Grasping at Grace (and Growth)

Transformation is Inescapable

Entries tagged with rights for everyone

Dept. of Fight and Flight

Dept. of Political Accountability

Dept. of Where Was I

Dept. of Politics

Dept. of Fuck Around and Find Out

Dept. of Just Keep Swimming

Dept. of Feeling Old

Dept. of SCOTUS Evil

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Dept. of Remembrance

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Dept. of Is It Gone Yet?

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