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What I’m Reading – 1 April 2018

Written by , Posted in What I'm Reading

Note: I’m not reading social media today because April Fool’s Day is the worst. But I’m still posting things, so enjoy!

Racism

“Now, she’s going back to prison for casting a ballot illegally — for five years. Mason was indicted on a charge of illegal voting in Tarrant County, Tex., last year and found guilty by State District Judge Ruben Gonzalez on Thursday, despite her protestations that she simply was not aware that she was barred from casting a ballot and never would have done it had she known.” Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation (by Meagan Flynn for Washington Post)

Misogyny

“All afternoon, I was furious. I cursed out loud — alarming the woman sitting next to me at my co-working space — as I read Goldberg characterize Williamson’s belief that a quarter of the female population should be killed as simply a “controversial aspect” of an otherwise “ideologically interesting” career. He didn’t even have the bravery to use the words ‘women’ or ‘abortion’ — just “extreme tweeting”, as if calling for the hanging of millions of women was some sort of Mountain Dew-fueled quirk rather than abhorrent and dangerous extremism.” On The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, and hiring men who want women dead (by Jessica Valenti)

“The Atlantic’s recent personnel choices are a case in point. The magazine has just hired two new columnists, one on the left, one on the right. The left columnist, Ibram X. Kendi, is the author of Stamped from the Beginning. The monograph is a groundbreaking, painstaking history of the development of racist and anti-racist ideas in America that challenges comfortable notions of progress against bigotry. It won the National Book Award. The right columnist, Kevin D. Williamson, is a writer formerly at National Review who has referred to a nine-year-old black child as a ”primate.”” Bad Ideas Aren’t Worth Debating (by Noah Berlatsky for Huff Post)

Higher Education

“Students have controlled the building since Thursday. The occupation came a day after university President Wayne Frederick admitted Wednesday that he fired six staff who allegedly pocketed financial aid grants while also receiving reduced tuition.” Howard University students occupy campus building in the wake of massive financial aid scandal (by Joshua Eaton for Think Progress)

Native Rights

“Although there is no official data detailing the rates of missing and murdered Native women, communities on and off reservations maintain that the number is very high. As reported by Rewire.News, nearly every Native American family has a story of a female relative who has gone missing or been murdered. On some reservations, women are murdered at more than ten times the national average.” States Inch Closer to Better Reporting on Violence Against Native Women (by Mary Annette Pember for Rewire)

“Whitehorse also shared her story in the recently completed film Amá, in which British filmmaker Lorna Tucker documents the history of the IHS’ sterilization program, a part of the U.S. government’s shameful neo-eugenics policies during the 1960s to late 1970s. Amá is the Navajo word for mother. The story of sterilization of Native women is a history that has been overlooked for far too long, explained Charon Asetoyer, director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC) in South Dakota. Asetoyer of the Comanche Nation is featured in the film.” ‘Amá’ and the Legacy of Sterilization in Indian Country (by Mary Annette Pember for Rewire)

“Comedy

““People see something they don’t like and they expect it to stop,” Gervais says in “Humanity.” “The world is getting worse. Don’t get me wrong, I think I’ve lived through the best 50 years of humanity. 1960 through 2015, the peak of civilization for everything. For tolerances, for freedoms, for communication, for medicine! And now it’s going the other way a little bit.” “Dumpster fire” has emerged as the favorite emblem of our present moment, but that Gervais quote feels both more apt and more tragic a metaphor: The Trump/Brexit era is a rich, famous, white, middle-aged man declaring the world to be in decline the moment he stops understanding it.” The World Is Evolving and Ricky Gervais Isn’t (by Lindy West for The New York Times)

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