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femmeinred
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Name: Becky
Birthday: 8/2/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: Economic and racial justice, God!, wild-eyed feminista poetry, Central African politics, writing novels!, creating chapbooks, postcolonial theory, hip-hop, radical politics and activism, doing stuff instead of just talking about it, family values, lesbians, democracy, kissing, Audre Lorde, Cornell West, bell hooks, Gloria Naylor, Howard Zinn, LGBT community and politics, SLCACTSUP, new york city, lesbians, Frantz Fanon, voting Democratic, re-energizing and reclaiming the Democratic Party, putting women and people of color into political power, the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, community organizing and outreach, writing more novels, serving a brief stint as a waitress at IHOP, being a financial aid baby, women, women, women, prose, spirituality, Unitarian Universalist church, being a minister someday, Africana studies, social justice, progressive rainbow soldiers, Mandela's Rainbow Nation, Desmond Tutu, Toni Morrison, Mama Day, the Sinead O Connor aesth
Expertise: Africana studies (more so towards international affairs and Central African politics), political science, and creative writing :)
also-
The geography of the female body ;)
Occupation: Student
Industry: Other
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  sweetaugust85
MSN: sweetaugust85
Member Since:
6/10/2004
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Are the people being killed in Darfur African? Or Arab? And what do these terms mean?
In the news, if we’re lucky, we might see glimpses of Darfur and the ongoing genocide in Sudan. Sometimes it is referred to as a conflict, or war, and we might see a quick image of suffering. Words and images may be chosen with political precision, or perhaps they may come after its writer has gone stumbling for words, searching for context. Frequently, words like African and Arab are thrown around too easily. We hear that Arabs are killing Africans, or Blacks in Darfur. But aren’t all of the Sudanese people African? What exactly do these words mean?
Darfur is a huge region in Western Sudan, and like many areas of the world, it has complicated definitions of race and ethnicity. People in Darfur are primarily Muslim, but are diverse ethnically, linguistically, and culturally. People who are typically defined as “African” or zurga (“Black”) in Darfur are ethnic groups that came to Sudan from the Lake Chad area centuries ago. However, to apply the term African here is in some sense ironic, because all Darfurians are North-Eastern Africans. However, “Afro”-Darfurians do not speak Arabic at home, but a variety of other languages. They are primarily agriculturalists- with the exception of the Zaghawa, who are “African” and pastoralist- and encompass the Fur, Massaleit, Tama, Tanjur, Bergid, and Berti ethnic groups.
People of Arab ancestry in Darfur generally speak Arabic at home, and are primarily pastoralists in the northern, arid belt of Darfur- nomadic and semi-nomadic herding groups that include the Irayqat, Beni, Rizeigat, and Mahariya, or Arab ethnic groups in the southern and eastern zones known as the Baggara, Habbaniya, and Beni Halba.
The Janjaweed, backed by the Sudanese government, has attempted to eradicate the Fur, Massaleit, and Zaghawa. The Janjaweed are Arab Baggara militias, and are sometimes known as the “muraheleen” (Africa Action 1).
It is important to recognize that how people perceive race changes as you move around the world, because race is a social construct with no biological basis, grounded instead by deep-seated historical contexts of oppression and violence. Race is perceived differently in the United States than it is in countries as diverse as Brazil, Sudan, Russia, Puerto Rico, and many others.
Human Rights Watch stated in a 2004 report that “in the last year, since the conflict in Darfur intensified, the communities under attack, namely the Fur, Massaleit, and Zaghawa, have begun to identify themselves as “African” and “marginalized,” in contrast to earlier self-definitions as Sudanese or Darfurian. They increasingly see the attacks on their communities by the Sudanese government as racially and ethnically motivated ones1 (Human Rights Watch 6-7).”
The term Arab also has complex meanings. Generally, the term Arab is used today to denote all ethnic groups which speak Arabic dialects or “literary” Arabic, which is spoken widely across North African and Middle Eastern media, and is what the Qur’an is written in (Freeman 1). Arab ethnic groups have diverse African, European, and West Asian ancestries. To complicate this definition, there are individuals who identify as Arab but may not speak Arabic. For instance, someone may identify as Arab-American, but might not speak Arabic. Arab-Americans, or the Arab Diaspora[i] in the United States, do span ancestries from over 22 Arabic-speaking countries.
African Action Network. “Africa Action Talking Points on How to Stop Genocide in
Darfur, Sudan.” July 2006. http://www.africaaction.org/newsroom/docs/TPs0607.pdf.
Last accessed: August 15, 2006.
”Diaspora: Entry.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
2000. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/diaspora. Last accessed: August 15, 2006.
2001.
Freeman, Andy. “A Short Attempt to Analyze the Concept of ‘Arab’ and Arab Unity.”
February 12, 2002. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~andyf/index.html.
Last Accessed: August 15, 2006.
Human Rights Watch Vol. 16, No. 5 (A), “Darfur in Flames: Atrocities in Western Sudan.”
April 2004. This can be viewed at: http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0404/. Last accessed: July 2006.
[i] Diaspora is a term used frequently in academia to describe a dispersion of people from their homeland. For example, one might refer to an Asian Diaspora, which would include, for example, Indian-Americans and Chinese-Americans. Haitians and African-Americans are all part of the African Diaspora. The Jewish community in the United States would be considered part of the Jewish Diaspora (Dictionary 1). Recently, the term Diaspora has also been used in some texts to describe the people dispelled from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, referring to a New Orleans ‘Diaspora.’ | | |
| Pretty stunning examples of white privilege in the U.S. health care system...but there's hope for undoing it. Check out this NAACP action alert...
Lots of love, and happy Monday!,
Ms. Becky 
NAACP URGES PASSAGE OF TRI-CAUCUS HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION TO ADDRESS DISPARITIES AFFECTING RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY AMERICANS
THE ISSUE:
Over the last two decades hundreds of studies
from governmental agencies and non-partisan think tanks have all
concluded that in the United States the color of your skin, your ethnic
background and where you live can not only influence your health care
access and quality; they can determine them.
The statistics are as unthinkable as they are conclusive: African
Americans are 23% more likely to die from various types of cancer than
whites. African American and American Indian / Alaskan Native infant
mortality rates are more than 2 times higher that that for their
Caucasian counterparts. African American women are nearly four times
more likely than white women to die during childbirth or from pregnancy
complications. The death rate from asthma is more than 3 times higher
among African Americans than among whites. The diabetes death rates
among African Americans and Hispanics are about 2 times higher than
that among Caucasian Americans. The AIDS case rate among African
Americans is more than 10 times higher than that among whites; the AIDS
case rate for Hispanics is more than 4 times that of white Americans.
African American diabetics are more than 3 times more likely than
Caucasian diabetics to have a lower limb amputated.
There are a myriad of reasons for these tremendous discrepancies,
and that is why no one step will resolve them. The Healthcare Equality
and Accountability Act, S. 1580, introduced by Senator Akaka (HI) /
H.R. 3561, introduced by Congressman Honda (CA) and endorsed by the
Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus takes a multi-faceted
approach to address these problems. It would expand exiting forms of
health
insurance; work to remove language and cultural barriers to quality
health care; improve the diversity of the healthcare workforce to
reflect, understand and respect the diverse backgrounds, experiences
and perspectives of the people it serves; support and expand programs
to reduce disparities in particular diseases and conditions, especially
diabetes, obesity, heart disease, asthma and HIV/AIDS; improve racial,
ethnic, socioeconomic and language data collection to adequately
identify, measure
and find reasonable and innovative solutions for health disparities;
ensure adequate funding of the Office of Minority Health, and the
National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities ; and
bolster the capacity of institutions that provide care in racial and
ethnic minority communities.
ACTION ALERT
DATE: March 20, 2006
TO: Concerned Parties
FROM: Bruce Gordon, NAACP President & CEO
Hilary O. Shelton, Director, Washington Bureau
NAACP urges passage of tri-caucus healthcare legislation to address disparities affecting racial and ethnic minority Americans
THE ACTION We Need You To Take:
Contact your Representative and both your Senators and Urge Them to support and co-sponsor the Healthcare Equality and Accountability Act, S. 1580, / H.R. 3561. To contact your Senators and Representative, you may:
Make a Phone Call:
Call your Senators and your Representative in Washington by dialing the Capitol Switchboard and asking to be transferred to your Senators'/Congressman’s offices. The switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121 (see message section, below).
Write a Letter
To write letters to your Senators, send them to:
The Honorable (name of Senator)
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
To write a letter to your Representative, send it to:
The Honorable (name of Representative)
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Send a Fax
If you would like to send a fax, call your Senators’ or Representative’s offices (through the Capitol switchboard) and ask for their fax numbers (you can use either the attached sample letter or the message box, below).
Send an E-Mail
To send an e-mail to your Senators, simply go to www.senate.gov, and click on “Contacting the Senate”; you can look your Senators up either alphabetically or by state.
To send an e-mail to your Representative, go to www.house.gov, and click on “Write Your Representative.” This will help you identify who your congressman is and how to contact him/her.
Unfortunately, not all Members of Congress have e-mail addresses.
REMEMBER TO CONTACT BOTH YOUR SENATORS!!!!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS IMPORTANT MATTER!!!
If you have any questions, call Hilary Shelton at the Washington Bureau at (202) 463-2940.(date)
The Honorable ___________________________
United States Senate / House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510 / 20515
RE: Disparities in minority health care
Dear Senator / Representative _______________________________;
As your constituent, I am writing to encourage you to do all you can to address the glaring health care disparities that exist today among racial and ethnic minority Americans. Specifically, I hope that you will support and co-sponsor the Healthcare Equality and Accountability Act, S. 1580 / H.R. 3561. This legislation takes a comprehensive approach to mitigate some of the causes of these atrocious differences in health care in the United States today.
In the United States the color of your skin, your ethnic background and where you live can not only influence your health care access and quality; they can well determine them. The statistics are as unthinkable as they are conclusive: African Americans are 23% more likely to die from all kinds of cancer than whites. African American and American Indian / Alaskan Native infant mortality rates are more than 2 times higher that that for their Caucasian counterparts. African American women are nearly four times more likely than white women to die during childbirth or from pregnancy complications. The death rate from asthma is more than 3 times higher among African Americans than among whites. The diabetes death rates among African Americans and Hispanics are about 2 times higher than that among Caucasian Americans. The AIDS case rate among African Americans is more than 10 times higher than that among whites; the AIDS case rate for Hispanics is more than 4 times that of white Americans.
There are a myriad of reasons for these tremendous discrepancies, and that is why no one step will resolve them. The Healthcare Equality and Accountability Act, S. 1580, introduced by Senator Akaka (HI) / H.R. 3561, introduced by Congressman Honda (CA) takes a multi-faceted approach to address these problems. It would re-prioritize our health care distribution and research efforts as well as fund efforts for prevention, education and data collection. I urge you to support and co-sponsor this important legislation.
Please let me know what steps you are taking to address the problem of health care disparities among racial and ethnic minority Americans and what I can to do to assist you.
Sincerely,
(sign and print your name and
remember to include your address) | | |
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And when I look at my
footprints in the sand, I began to realize that they are as much mine
as those of God carrying me...I see God's face in every woman's face,
every man's face, and every face that blurs these bittersweet lines of
what it means to be a man, to be a woman, to be what exists
in/between. I see God's at the bottom of each glass of water, and feel
her kissing my forehead every night when I feel sad, when I feel
beloved. And I love(-d) you, over and over and over again...honored
because we are all made in your diverse images... coming from all
places, decentralizing what is central, loving both the fragments, the
wholeness, the periods of emptiness, the divinity of my hand in yours,
the divinity of children dancing in the streets, the divinity of
everything from 125th street to salt lake city to penn station to the
pacific ocean and the deep recesses and graves of the atlantic
oceans... we, the people, the children come out to meet you in our
love, our grief, our acknowledged prejudices, our healing open minds, our education, our
forgiveness... we come out to meet you.
we come out to meet you.
amen. | | |
| The Gay Survey
1. Do you ever get called by your last name or some random form of your name or just a weird nickname in general? Uh...Harshbarger doesn't really roll off the tongue. The only person who has ever called me Harshbarger was my track coach.
2. Do you like T.A.T.U. even though they're "fake" lesbians? Okay haha, that song "All The Things You Said" is my guilty pleasure. Still. Yes, still. Shut up. I think one of them is bi..:)
3. Do you like Tegan and Sara? I haven't really heard of them
4. Do you know at least one lesbian that sings and plays guitar at a local coffee shop? Aw, my friends from Maryland- Constance does I think, and Crystal I think does too
5. Have you ever seen But I'm a Cheerleader? Wow, I just saw that two nights ago for the third time.
6. Lost and Delirious? No.
7. Bound? Ew, I couldn't watch it, the mafia storyline was freaking me out, I took one look at that chopped off finger and I returned the movie.
8. Gia? Yes... I hate movies about drugs, but I love Angelina. Mmmm.
9. D.E.B.S.? Nope.
10. Boys Don't Cry? No I need to, not seeing it is def. going to kick me out of the lesbian club :)
11. Better Than Chocolate? Yeah, it was pretty bad but it's sitting on my heater right now with my other dvd's.
12. Kissing Jessica Stein? Yes...grr. The first time I loved it, and then I saw it again a few years later and was kind of horrified....why doesn't Jessica just sleep with Helen? everytime I saw it, I cried when the two girls broke up.
13. Any other good ones we missed? Hmmm, IF THESE WALKS COULD TALK 2 (not the depressing one on abortion). Holy hell, Chloe Sevigne...
14. Are you excited about the new movie coming out, Imagine Me and You? I think I might have heard of it, not sure...if it's the one I am thinking of, it sounded so cute...
15. Who's your favorite famous lesbian? Lol, weird question... um. Probably some of the amazing women I worked with when I interned at the Anti-Violence Project...
16. Do you love Angelina Jolie? Sometimes she says weird stuff, but yes...I have a gorgeous picture of her above my bed...
17. Do you own a pair of cargo shorts? No....
18. Polo shirts? Just one.
19. Admit it, do you pop your collar? That's gay-ish? Not often...
20. Do you love basketball shorts? They're alright.
21. Ever wear boxers? I have two pairs, no thre,e all of which are crazy girlie....
22. Do you wear make up? A little, but I feel self conscious.
23. What's your favorite part on a girl? Eyes and brain! I also love girls with really clean smelling hair (esp. if the shampoo is young) and radiant skin
24. Have you ever given one flowers? Yup
25. Wrote a poem or song for one? A lot of poems....most of which go unseen.
26. Had a girl give you flowers or write a poem? I think I've gotten flowers from a girl in a romantic way, tho I've def. gotten flowers from female friends (yay stephanie lecci!)...I've gotten poems from girls...weirdness, I forgot about that. :)
27. How many sports do you play? Um none. I'm so tired all the time! I used to do cross country, winter and spring track....now I walk slowlyyyyy and weight lift.
28. Are you just as bad as one of the guys when watching a football game? I hate football so much, it's decent playing it in gym but the most horrible to watch ew ew ew....my dad when I was a baby though put me in a 49ers baby uniform :) go san francisco!
29. Whats the biggest number of girls you've kissed in one day? haha....there was one night (lord) when it was 4.... and then I played spin the botte a couple of weeks ago and it was 4-5. meh! lol
30. Do your parents know about you? Yes they do.
31. How'd that go? Happily
32. What about the rest of your family? The ones who know are happy with it, if not a little surprised (go femme-y me)
33. Have any tattoos? I actually want one or two, but it would require a LOT of thought and years of being fine with that before I did it
34. Piercings? Ears, just got them last summer, ur basic-ness....I love them.
35. Do you like tattoos and piercings on a girl? Not too many, but some are hot.
36. Are you confident in bed? Kind of? I'm still new to all this, I only lost my virginity a year and a half ago.
37. Ever get a bit freaky? Not really, haha...I jokingly once said that if I could have lesbian sex in a missionary position, I would do it!
38. Do you like taking the lead or letting someone else? Both! I love tops, and I love to top.
39. Would you ever have a threesome? I'm sort of done with that....but I wouldn't rule it out.
40. Who do you think is the hottest L word character? Ooh. Carmen and Dana, Laura and Bette.
41. Do you like playing the boy or girl role in a relationship? That's a dumb question....
42. Do you like to refer to yourself as lesbian, lesbo, gay, homo? Hehe...I like lesbian, queer/queer woman, homo hotness hahahah.
43. Do you shop more in the girl's or guy's side of stores? Girls, once in awhile boy's.
44. Have you ever noticed the difference between a gay girls and a straight girls dancing style? Not really...my straight friends are usually grinding all over each other anyway :)
45. Can you be caught wearing a hat a lot? Once in awhile
46. Do you usually have your hair up in a pony tail or down? Damn I miss ponytails, my hair is too short...when I have it long enough, mostly down, but up for track and running.
47. How much rainbow stuff do you own? A shit load, no comment.
48. Have you ever been to a pride festival or parade? Yeah! I had to anyway for my internship...Brooklyn Pride twice, NYC Pride twice (I was on the AVP float! yay), Youth Pride, African-American LGBT Pride...
49. Is chapstick a must for you when going out? I wear it because my lips feel dry a lot, but I don't think it's noticeable.
50. Have you ever kissed a straight girl? Ummm....oh boy. My straight girl list (no last names for confidentiality) includes Anna (kind of queer, mostly not), Grace, Allison, different Anna, and Reina.
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| 'cuz some like it hot.... :)
happy spring people, my break starts today and because I am a lucky dog I am off for two weeks.
Thank God.
So I spent an hour the other day readng about all the havoc and damage that splenda and aspartame can do to your body, lasted one whole day- a big deal for me- without artificial sweeteners, despite that aspartame is in 5000+ u.s. products, and then this afternoon I saw 20 diet dr. peppers in the pub and I had one. To look at it from the sort of bright side, it made me feel sick, tired, and lousy, which I might not have noticed it occurred after drinking the soda if I hadn't felt unusually good for the previous 24 hours.
Nothing like runnign the risk of formaldehyde breaking down or not breaking down in your body to make it through a work shift.
Mmm it's almost 4 pm and like an adult (hehe) I've been working since 9:30 am, first at PS 30 with my adorable kids and then at the academic computing (very easy tasks, I might add- i.e. Becky, how do I put paper in the printer? hehe or rather, where is the paper?).
Ten minutes left. Score. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep for a long time. Last night was crazy and weird. I tried to acquire a taste for beer, but it was literally impossible. Even Heineken beer really does taste like carbonated garbage water. I don't mean to be rude, I'm just honest.
It feels so good to be wearing a skirt and a tank top. The slc campus looks terrific. Halleluah, kittens
I'm going home for a week and then coming back.
Love always,
Becky
p.s. the book i am reading right now is incredible, especially anything by chrystos- her words are so profound. | | |
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