Proctor and Gamble’s New Ad – “The Talk”

This ad, about how black mothers try to protect their children from a racist world is setting off fireworks. Now it is a fact, the most black moms (and dads) have this talk with their children at some point in their lives.

Racist conservative types, and their captive Uncle Toms are in full denial.

‘You are not going to let that word hurt you’: Procter & Gamble ad taking on racism is met with praise — and outrage

A new ad to be released next week by one of America’s biggest household products companies has drawn outrage — and praise — for addressing racial bias.

“The Talk,” a two-minute video by Procter & Gamble, depicts black mothers of different generations, talking to their children about racism.

“It’s an ugly, nasty word, and you are going to hear it, nothing I can do about that,” a mother tells her young son in an apparent reference to a racial slur. “But you are not going to let that word hurt you, you hear me?”

“Now, when you get pulled over …” another mother tells her teenage daughter.

“Ma, I’m a good driver don’t worry, okay?” the daughter answers.

“Baby, this is not about you getting a ticket. This is about you not coming home.”

The new ad builds on the company’s 10-year-old “My Black is Beautiful” campaign, which has produced audio interviews about bias. The company, which makes a wide array of products from laundry detergent to tampons to cough drops, says the stories they tell are meant to reflect the real-world experiences of many of their customers. It has also produced videos about gender bias, such as the Always #LikeAGirl and Ariel #ShareTheLoad ads.

“The Talk,” which appeared online two weeks ago, sparked a heated public reaction on social media, with some commending the company for addressing a difficult topic, and others accusing it of race-baiting and vowing to stop buying their products.

“Let the boycott begin on P & G!!! Cannot believe they would cut their noses off, to spite their faces,” a person commented on a YouTube page showing the ad.

“To all the people offended by this commercial … not every ad is target toward you,” another person wrote. “What’s wrong with a mother trying to protect her children and prepare them for a world that is not always (accepting).”

A website called Conservative101.com said the commercial attacked whites, adding, “In a cynical attempt to sell more soap and household cleaning products to the African American community, consumer giant Procter & Gamble decided to produce a commercial pandering to what they believe African-Americans think.”

While the advertising industry has been criticized in the past for a lack of diverse perspectives, in the past six months corporations have been bolder about supporting minorities, immigrants, and LGBTQ people, said Lee Ann Kahlor, associate director of the Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations at the University of Texas, Austin.

 

 

Kid Invents Machine to Save Kids in Hot Cars!

What I’m talking about!

This 11 year old from Texas is one sharp cookie!

Brilliant new device could save kids from hot car deaths — and it was invented by this 11-year-old

An 11-year-old boy in McKinney, TX has produced a prototype of a device designed to prevent the deaths of children in hot cars.

According to CBS News, Bishop Curry was inspired to invent the device after seeing a TV news report about the death of a 6-month-old baby who was left unattended in a hot car in Curry’s neighborhood.

“It made him sad, and at that point, the wheels started turning in his mind,” said Bishop’s father, Bishop Curry IV, to CBS. “He came up with a way to prevent it from happening.”

The father said that he came home from work one day to be greeted by his son waving a piece of paper saying he’d invented something called “Oasis.”

“When he showed me that sketch I was so proud of him for thinking of a solution,” Curry said. “We always just complain about things and rarely offer solutions.”

The boy created an internal cooling system with a fan mounted either on a front or rear headrest. Oasis uses GPS technology to detect when the vehicle has come to a stop and begins to monitor the air temperature. If it reaches a certain point, the fan turns on, blowing cool air on the child in their car seat.

Bishop the younger wasn’t content to stop there, however, Oasis also sends a signal to the child’s parents via WiFi and if they do not respond promptly, the device calls for help, sending the child’s location to authorities.

CBS said, “With help from a GoFundMe campaign that has raised nearly $40,000 since it launched back in January, Bishop was able to get a provisional patent and build a 3-D model of the device.”

Bishop Curry the father works for Toyota. He showed the device to his employers and they were impressed enough to send father and son to the Center for Child Injury Prevention Conference, where they presented the prototype for consideration by manufacturers.

The safety organization Kids and Cars says an average of 37 children die each year in hot cars. Texas is the No. 1 U.S. state for child hot car deaths with 121 children dying from heat-related illnesses after being left in cars since 1990.

Last week, a 25-year-old Texas woman was arrested and jailed after her 2-year-old daughter and infant son died from being locked in a hot car “to teach them a lesson.”

 

On Teaching Racism

Not sure why the cashier in this story thought it her duty to indoctrinate the child in her own racism…

Girl, 2, defends choice of doll to cashier: “She’s a doctor like I’m a doctor”

Two-year-old Sophia was told she could pick out a “special prize” — anything she wants — after she successfully completed potty training.

She was thrilled, and of course, headed straight for the doll aisle when she walked into Target with her mom, Brandi Benner, on Friday afternoon. Scanning the aisles, Sophia passed a row of baby dolls and headed for the “big girl dolls.” One doll in particular caught her eye: a little black girl dressed in a white lab coat, wearing a stethoscope around her neck.

“When she picked [the doll] up and saw that she was a doctor it was game over,” Benner told CBS News. “She got so excited.”

“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! I want this one. I want this one,” she shouted.

Smiling, Benner picked up the doll, “Oh, absolutely.”

She still had some money left over, so she picked out a Jeep for her new doll to ride around in. Together, Sophia and her mother walked to the cash register to check out. As always, Sophia offered to “pay” for the items — and by pay, she means put the toys on the conveyer belt.

She was greeted by the cashier, who asked, “Are you going to a birthday party?”

Confused, Sophia ignored the question and continued to stare at her beloved prize.

Then the cashier pointed to the doll, whose name is Megan, and asked if she picked her out for a friend.

Benner spoke up, explaining to the cashier that Sophia was getting a reward for using the potty.

“I am not ashamed that’s how I did it, because it works,” joked Benner about using the doll as incentive for potty training.

The woman gave Benner a puzzled look and turned to Sophia and asked, “Are you sure this is the doll you want, honey?”

At that point, Benner recalls she was starting to feel protective of Sophia, hoping she wouldn’t understand why the woman was questioning her choice of doll. But just as she was about to speak up, Sophia interjected, “Yes, please!”

The cashier replied, “But she doesn’t look like you. We have lots of other dolls that look more like you.”

Sophia responded, “Yes, she does. She’s a doctor like I’m a doctor. And I’m a pretty girl and she’s a pretty girl. See her pretty hair? And see her stethoscope?” her mother said.

The cashier simply responded with an “Oh, that’s nice.” She finished ringing up the family and they were on her way. Sophia didn’t think twice about the exchange, unlike Benner.

The mother of two — Sophia, 2, and Isabelle, 7 months — wanted to share the story with her Facebook friends.

“This experience just confirmed my belief that we aren’t born with the idea that color matters. Skin comes in different colors just like hair and eyes and every shade is beautiful,” Benner wrote in a post that has since gone viral with more than 201,000 shares.

While Benner is happy people are spreading the message, she feels it’s sad that it had to be said in the first place.

“It’s sad that such a small act has become national news,” she said. “In a sense it shouldn’t be surprising that a kid of one color wanted a doll of another — that shouldn’t be such a huge thing.”

Fortunately, her daughter wasn’t fased by it.

“What if she had been older — like 7, 8 or 9?” Benner asked. “Then she would have experienced more of the world and been more aware of cultural ‘dos and don’ts,’ and maybe would have second guessed [herself]. She maybe wouldn’t have been so quick to stick up for herself.”

Benner just hopes her daughter keeps her spunky spirit, and her dream to become a doctor.

Sophia first learned the word “stethoscope” from the TV cartoon “Doc McStuffins.” And her pediatrician allows the little girl to play with the tools in her doctor bag, which led to her desire to work in medicine someday.

That’s why, to Sophia, the doll’s skin tone doesn’t matter — all that matters is that she helps people, just like Sophia wants to do.

 

Trumpizoid Attacks Kids With Gun Over Trump Sign

Yeah…The looney tunes are getting reckless. In typical Trupizoid fashion you know when a 57 year old, grown man needs a gun to threaten or straighten up a group of 12 year olds…The weenie factor is really wee. Most grown men I know do it with a word.

There is no thing as an unloaded gun,

Michigan man grills kids at gunpoint over damaged Trump sign — until cops show up and arrest him

A Michigan man was arrested for pointing a gun at some neighborhood kids he accused of vandalizing his Donald Trump campaign sign.

Michael Kubek, of Allen Park, called police Oct. 29 after a group of teens knocked the campaign sign down and ran off, but the 56-year-old was not home when officers arrived a few minutes later, reported the Southgate News-Herald.

Police heard shouting nearby and found six children between 14 and 12 sitting on the grass as Kubek screamed and cursed at them.

Kubek told officers he was angry because he believed the children had damaged his Trump sign, although he admitted that he hadn’t seen them do it.

The children told police they were headed to a nearby park when Kubek began swearing at them and then pulled out a pistol and ordered them to sit down on a neighbor’s lawn.

The kids insisted they hadn’t damaged the sign, but they said Kubek only became angrier and held them at gunpoint while his mother, who lives on the same block, called police.

Kubek admitted to pointing his gun at the children to scare them, but he explained he was angry because his house had been egged and his Trump signs damaged a week earlier.

He told police the gun was not loaded, and officers said the weapon, which was properly licensed, was empty when they seized it from Kubek, who is a concealed carry permit holder.

Kubek was arrested and charged with felonious assault, and he was released on $5,000 bond.

 

Chumph’s Assault on the Babies

Lookin’ like Hitler in ’33…

Report: Children of color ‘terrified’ of Trump presidency

Two-thirds of educators teaching grades K-12 reported that school children, mostly of color, are scared and stressed about their future if Donald Trump becomes president, according to a recent Southern Poverty Law Center survey released Wednesday.

A common finding, SPLC reports, is that students of color worry about being deported if Trump wins the election. This anxiety resides particularly with Latino, Muslim and African-American students, even if they are legal U.S. citizens, the report cites. The worries relate to the Republican front-runner’s proposed anti-immigrant policies — such as building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and banning the entrance of all Muslims into the country. Trump has also called Mexicans “rapists” and did not immediately disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and other white supremacists in a February interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

“My students are terrified of Donald Trump,” said one teacher from a middle school with a large population of African-American Muslims. “They think that if he’s elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa.”

The survey, the non-profit social justice oriented organization admits, is not a scientific, random sampled poll. The open online survey conducted between March 23 to April 2 was sent to teachers that subscribed to SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance newsletter. SPLC also said the teachers who chose to respond to the survey are likely to be those who are most concerned about the effects of the election in their schools. Two thousand K-12 educators responded, generating more than 5,000 comments. About one-fifth of the comments mentioned Donald Trump, meanwhile less than 200 comments mentioned the names of the other presidential candidates.

According to the survey, teachers said students in second grade through high school have cried in class due to their fears about the election. The anxiety, many teachers said, was also hindering students’ grades and ability to concentrate. One teacher from Washington state said a 10-year-old boy couldn’t sleep at night because he was worried his immigrant parents would be deported.

More than one-third of teachers also said they saw an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant attitudes and more than half of educators said there was an increase in uncivil political discourse in the classroom since the election season began. This anxiety is then reinforced through an increase in bullying toward marginalized students. Muslim, Sikh and Hindu students faced heightened levels of abuse in the past few months, the survey added. Across the U.S., Muslim and perceived Muslim students were called “ISIS,” “terrorist” or “bomber.”

Hostility toward immigrant children, particularly Mexican students, has increased as well. Some students have threatened immigrant classmates that they will be deported soon, and use slurs against them. The survey also noted that many teachers observed an increase in the use of racial slurs, and some African-American students have said they fear slavery will be reinstated.

“At the all-white school where I teach, ‘dirty Mexican’ has become a common insult,” said a Wisconsin middle school educator. “Before election season it was never heard.”

Some teachers said the growing hostility inspired by the election season is undoing previous efforts to fight bullying in their schools. Meanwhile, other teachers reported that the election has not impacted bullying in their schools, noting that their schools have strong values and commitment to civility. More than 40 percent of teachers in the survey said they are hesitant to teach about the election because the topic elevates students’ stress. Even with the silence by teachers, it was noted that students are still impacted by the election through the media and other students.

 

Trumpazoid (White Racist) Pepper Sprays Black Children IN Portland

The white supremacist types get braver by the day with encouragement to violence by the Chumph…In typical fashion – this one picks on the defenseless. Just like the “big tough man” who sucker punched punched an older woman wearing an oxygen mask the other day.

 

Community stunned after epithet-shouting white man attacks black Oregon kids with pepper spray

Vanessa White of Portland, OR tells Fox News 12 about the racist attack on her neighbor’s grandchildre

Police in Portland, Oregon are looking for a white or Hispanic man who pepper sprayed a black family with three children, then hurled a racial epithet as he fled the scene.

The Portland Mercury said that on Tuesday, 62-year-old Patricia Garner and her daughter 32-year-old Foia Frazer were packing Frazer’s three children — ages 12, 11 and 7 years — into the car to go to their grandmother’s house when a male cyclist rolled past the car, then turned around and blasted the children with pepper spray through the car’s sun roof. He then shouted a racial epithet as he cycled away.

“The suspect turned around northbound, riding back by the car and sprayed the kids with pepper spray,” said a press release from the Portland Police Bureau. “Garner reported to police that the man yelled a racial epithet at them as he pepper sprayed the kids then rode away.”

One of the children — a 12-year-old boy — was rushed to a hospital emergency room, said the family’s neighbor Laurel Carrasco. The fumes from the pepper spray still clinging to his skin were so intense that the physician who treated him had difficulty breathing.

“The fumes coming off the child were enough to choke one of the doctors,” Carrasco told the Mercury. “He had to have several milk cloths put on him and eventually had to be sedated.”

Carrasco stressed to the newspaper that there was no altercation leading up to the attack. The man on the bicycle seemed friendly at first, asked the family how they were doing, to which one of the children responded “Fine” before getting a face full of pepper spray.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Pete Simpson said that detectives are attempting to piece together what happened and track down the cyclist, who is described as “white or Hispanic male in his mid-20s, 5’9″ tall, 160 pounds, wearing black spandex-style bicycle clothing and a grey and black helmet. The suspect was riding a road-style bicycle (not a mountain bike), with a white box on the back of the bicycle.”

Police found the white box lying near the scene of the attack, but it contained only cycling tools and no identification.

The police statement about the incident said that the crime is being investigated as a bias attack and asked anyone with information about the crime to contact Detective Jeff Sharp at 503-823-9773 or via email at: jeff.sharp@portlandoregon.gov.

Another neighbor told Portland’s Fox News 12 that the attack has shocked her and shaken her faith in her community.

“To have hate of that magnitude,” marveled Vanessa White, “and to pour that hate on an innocent victim, a child that was helpless and cannot defend themselves? That’s extreme.”

 

Right Wing Harassment of Welfare Recipients a Total Failure

Bad news for the white right. Unlike their racist stereotypes, most folks on welfare (SNAP) aren’t on drugs. Yet another state fails miserably making a racist assumption and passing it into law… This one by the man responsible to murdering and maiming children in Flint with tainted water.

Guess how many welfare recipients tested positive in Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s drug test?

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who faced criticism earlier this year for his handling of the water crisis in Flint, could face more pushback after the apparent failure of his program requiring drug tests for welfare users.

The Guardian reported that none of the 303 people tested under the auspices of the Family Independence Program have tested positive for drugs as of the end of May.

The pilot program ends on Sept. 30 and received $300,000 in state funding, although a spokesperson for the state health department said only $300 had been spent thus far.

“The governor will wait until the pilot program has concluded and the report is delivered, as required by the legislation, to reach any conclusions,” said Anna Heaton, a spokesperson for Snyder’s office.

The program allows health department officials to require applicants to go through a drug test based on the results of the 50-question screening process. Refusal to do so disqualifies them from receiving financial assistance for six months. However, none of the applicants reportedly refused to go through the test.

As Think Progress reported last year, several other states with similar programs also found little evidence of high drug use among social program recipients. For instance, only 11 out of 2,783 applicants in Kansas’ program tested positive.

“As we’ve seen time and time again, these misguided policies are devoid of any scientific credibility and have proven to be a colossal waste of our time and money,” said Eric Harris, a spokesperson for Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), who recently proposed a measure that would make drug tests mandatory for people reporting deductions of more than $150,000 on their tax returns.

 

 

Teaching More Than the Three R’s in Texas

Not only do the conservatwerps tweak the textbooks in Texas…They have a propensity to tweak the kids.

Texas on record-setting pace for inappropriate teacher-student relationships

Reports of Texas teachers having inappropriate relationships with students are on track to beat last year’s record total.

The Texas Education Agency reports it has launched 162 investigations of reported inappropriate teacher-student relationships between Sept. 1 and May 31. The Amarillo Globe-News reports that the agency had 188 investigations last fiscal year, marking at least the fifth year of growth in a row.

The issue in Texas shot back into the national spotlight after it was revealed last week that former Houston-area teacher Alexandria Vera, 24, had been impregnated by a then-13-year-old former student.

Court documents allege she was introduced to his family as the boy’s girlfriend, and the woman said that his parents supported the relationship and invited her to family gatherings. She reportedly said she told a school district investigator the family was “very supportive and excited” when she disclosed her pregnancy. She allegedly said she and the boy “love each other.”

According to the probable cause document, she aborted the pregnancy after a child welfare investigator questioned her in February about the relationship, which she denied at the time.

Texas lawmakers could address the topic of such relationships during next year’s legislative session. The state Senate held a hearing on the subject in December, and the Texas House Public Education Committee took similar testimony last month. At the House committee hearing, lawmakers and testimony from experts blamed social media.

 

“Gangsta” Toddlers Have Shot 23 People So Far This Year!

How common is it that 3 year olds get hold of guns in the house or car?

Waaaaay more common that you would believe.

Toddlers have shot at least 23 people this year

This past week, a Milwaukee toddler fatally shot his mother after finding a handgun in the back seat of the car they were riding in. The case drew a lot of national attention given the unusual circumstances: Little kids rarely kill people, intentionally or not.

But this type of thing happens more often than you might think. Since April 20, there have been at least seven instances in which a 1- , 2- or 3-year-old shot themselves or somebody else in the United States:

• On April 20, a 2-year-old boy in Indiana found the gun his mother left in her purse on the kitchen counter and fatally shot himself.
• The next day in Kansas City, Mo., a 1-year-old girl evidently shot and killed herself with her father’s gun while he was sleeping.
• On April 22, a 3-year-old in Natchitoches, La., fatally shot himself after getting hold of a gun.
• On April 26, a 3-year-old boy in Dallas, Ga., fatally shot himself in the chest with a gun he found at home.
• On April 27, the Milwaukee toddler fatally shot his mother in the car.
• That same day, a 3-year-old boy in Grout Township, Mich., shot himself in the arm with a gun he found at home. He is expected to survive.
• On April 29, a 3-year-old girl shot herself in the arm after grabbing a gun in a parked car in Augusta, Ga. She is also expected to survive.

Last year, a Washington Post analysis found that toddlers were finding guns and shooting people at a rate of about one a week. This year, that pace has accelerated. There have been at least 23 toddler-involved shootings since Jan. 1, compared with 18 over the same period last year.

In the vast majority of cases, the children accidentally shoot themselves. That’s happened 18 times this year, and in nine of those cases the children died of their wounds.

Toddlers have shot other people five times this year. Two of those cases were fatal: this week’s incident in Milwaukee, and that of a 3-year-old Alabama boy who fatally shot his 9-year-old brother in February….Read the Rest Here…

 

Small Black Children Arrest By Police in TN for Failing to Break Up a Schoolyard Fight

WTF is wrong with these Cops? Arresting and handcuffing a 6 Year Old and 4 other children…

For not breaking up a schoolyard tussle between other kids? And it turns out 3 of the kids weren’t anywhere in the neighborhood of said fight?

Tennessee showing it’s ass again.

Parents furious after cops arrest kids ages 6 to 10 at school for not stopping neighborhood fight

Parents in Tennessee are furious after at least five children — between the ages of 10 and 6 — were handcuffed and arrested last week at their elementary school over an incident that happened in their neighborhood.

The children were accused of failing to stop a fight that happened near their homes, and angry parents and community members lashed out at the Murfreesboro police chief and city manager Sunday at a neighborhood church, reported the Daily News Journal.

“There are innocent kids that have been arrested that have been entered in a system they have no business in,” said Zacchaeus Crawford, who said that three of his children were handcuffed in front of classmates at Hobgood Elementary School.

During a community meeting at First Baptist Church, City Manager Rob Lyons and Police Chief Karl Durr promised changes to prevent similar situations, but neither official offered any details.

Police obtained arrest warrants for the students after watching video recorded of the fight and determined the children had not done enough to break up the altercation.

The school’s safety and education officer praised school officials and employees, but he said the arrests deeply disturbed him.

“I hope we’re not setting a precedent where there’s a fight and we send everyone and their mom to jail,” said Christopher Williams, a youth pastor at First Baptist.

Crawford, whose children were arrested, said the situation added to the already tense racial climate in Murfreesboro, and school board candidate David Settles demanded police and city officials address the situation.

“I’m sorry for the new police chief because you came into a fireball, and when I say fireball — hell is about to break loose if you do not get a handle on this,” Settle said.

School officials have not commented about the arrests.

Parents complained that their children were handcuffed in front of their peers, and some said police did not immediately notify them of the arrests.

“They are getting carted off and being detained for something they didn’t have anything to do with,” Crawford said. “My anger is not just festering. I’m not going to lie to you, my anger is over-boiling.”

 

The Child Soldiers…Of Iowa

Welcome to the Third World of children carrying high powered weapons.

Iowa Lawmakers Approve Bill That Would Let Kids Have Handguns

Children of all ages in Iowa would be able to lay down their toy guns and pick up the real thing under a bill that passed the state House of Representatives.

The measure approved Tuesday by 62-36 vote would allow children 14 or younger to possess “a pistol, revolver or the ammunition” under parental supervision. It now heads for the state Senate.

“We do not need a militia of toddlers,” state Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt (D) said on the House floor. Running-Marquardt, joined by other statehouse Democrats, said she balked at a bill that “allows for 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds to operate handguns.”

Statehouse Republicans, including the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jake Highfill, said the the legislation was an issue of parents’ rights designed to correct “an injustice in Iowa code” that now forbids children 14 and younger from handling pistols.

Highfill said his measure would bring the law on children’s use of handguns in line with regulations for shotguns and rifles, which don’t restrict the age of children using them under parental supervision. Current Iowa law makes it a felony for a parent or guardian to allow a child younger than 14 to handle a pistol. Older children may do so with supervision.

“Allowing people to learn at a young age the respect that a gun commands is one of the most important things you can do,” Highfill told The Washington Post on Wednesday. The alternative, he said, is “turning 18 with no experience.”

Parents, Highfill noted, must be at least 21 years old and would have to maintain “visual and verbal contact” with the armed child.

“Logically, this bill is completely ridiculous,” said Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D).

“We can’t legislate good parenting … but we can protect our children,” said Rep. Mary Mascher (D).

“While most parents would not allow their 2-year-old to wield a revolver, we pass laws for those parents who lack the parenting skills needed to protect their own children,” Mascher said, citing seat belt, smoking and car seat laws.

Mascher cited the case of a 9-year-old Arizona girl who in 2014 accidentally killed her shooting instructor with an Uzi. The girl said she felt the weapon was too much for her and hurt her shoulder, according to the police report.

Rep. Art Staed (D), who said he’s a hunter who supports the Second Amendment, said the legislation is a public health threat and not gun rights issue.

“I would not allow my children to have access to guns,” Staed said.

 

Republican Pedophile Assistance Act

Some creep telling my little ones to expose themselves is likely to be eating a 44 caliber sandwich if I get there before the Police do…

So now we have a right-wing pervert trying to make it a requirement for “inspections” of children’s genitals!

Virginia GOP bill would require schools to verify children’s genitals before using restroom

Republican child molesting  POS Virginia Del. Mark Cole

A Bill filed by a Virginia lawmaker this week would require schools to be certain that children are using the restroom corresponding to their “correct anatomical sex.”

The legislation, which would prohibit transgender students from using the bathroom matching their gender, is being sponsored by Republican Del. Mark Cole.

House Bill 663 defines “anatomical sex” as “the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s anatomy.”

“Local school boards shall develop and implement policies that require every school restroom, locker room, or shower room that is designated for use by a specific gender to solely be used by individuals whose anatomical sex matches such gender designation,” the measure states.

Under the bill, any student who violated the bathroom rules could be fined $50 by law enforcement. Schools would have the discretion of allowing students to use a “single stall restroom or shower” or to have “controlled” access to an otherwise unoccupied restroom.

Cole’s legislation would also allow law enforcement to fine anyone who knowingly used a public restroom that did not correspond to their “anatomical sex.”

Civil rights advocate Tim Peacock noted that “adults would be required to inspect children’s genitals before they use the bathroom” for the legislation to be enforceable.

“This is what the conservative movement has devolved into: forcing children to allow adults to examine their genitals out of misplaced fear that transgender kids and adults might commit a hypothetical never-before-seen act of violence or sexual aggression (that would still be against the law with or without transgender protections),” Peacock wrote.

 

Poisoning Babies in Flint

Another case where the Republican “cutting taxes” meme has destroyed a generation of black children…

Flint Kids Have So Much Lead in Their Blood That the Mayor Declared a State of Emergency. Thanks GOP.

The beleaguered city’s water problems can be traced back to a controversial move by Michigan governor Rick Snyder.

Children in Flint, Michigan, have such high levels of lead in their blood that Mayor Karen Weaver declared a state of emergency on Monday, calling the situation a “manmade disaster.” The origins of the escalating situation in Flint go back to 2011, when Republican Gov. Rick Snyder appointed an emergency financial manager to balance Flint’s budget—largely by cutting costs on basic public services. Here’s what you need to know:

What’s going on?

In April of 2014, Flint switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River in an effort to save money. The decision, made by emergency manager Darnell Earley, was met with skepticism: Residents complained that the water was smelly and cloudy. Water tests have since shown high levels of lead, copper, and other bacteria, including E. coli. (GM started hauling in water to its remaining Flint plant last year after noticing that the Flint water was corroding engines.)

According to the Hurley Medical Center study below, the proportion of kids under five with elevated levels of lead in their blood has doubled since the switch to Flint River water, to roughly four percent. In some areas, that number has leapt up to more than six percent. “This damage to children is irreversible and can cause effects to a child’s IQ, which will result in learning disabilities and the need for special education and mental health services and an increase in the juvenile justice system,” wrote Weaver in the state of emergency declaration. In October, the city transitioned back to the Detroit water system, though lead levels still remain higher than the federal action level.

Why are the lead levels so high in Flint?

Flint, the birthplace of General Motors and once a prosperous city, has been in a state of decline for decades. The population has halved since its peak in the 1960’s and 70’s; by 2013, the city had lost roughly three quarters of its property tax base and suffered from a 16 percent unemployment rate. The problem has been met with austerity: Under a controversial law passed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who has been criticized for close ties with the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the state can now appoint emergency managers with the ability to override local policies and make sweeping decisions in the name of “fiscal responsibility”—a policy that stripped half of the state’s black residents of their voting rights.

Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley implemented steep budget cuts, including last year’s decision to save money by changing the city’s water source. In March, Earley nixed a city council vote to “do all things necessary” to switch back to the Detroit system in March, calling the decision “incomprehensible.” He stepped down the next month. The series of events has led to litigation: In November, Flint residents filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the contaminated water caused them to experience myriad health conditions, including skin lesions, hair loss, depression, vision loss, and memory loss. The same month, the ACLU and Natural Resources Defense Council sued the city, governor, and public officials, claiming that public officials have known for years that drinking Flint River water could result in contamination problems. Michael Steinberg, legal director for the ACLU of Michigan, said, “In their short-sighted effort to save a buck, the leaders who were supposed to be protecting Flints’s citizens instead left them exposed to dangerously high levels of lead contamination.”

How are residents getting by?

Those who can afford it are buying bottled water, but Flint is one of the poorest cities in the nation—41 percent of residents live in poverty. Many still use city water for bathing and cooking.

What are the effects of lead poisoning?

It’s easy to diagnose someone with high lead levels—it simply takes the prick of a finger and a blood test. The symptoms manifest slowly, often years later. According to the World Health Organization, “Lead affects children’s brain development resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioural changes such as shortening of attention span and increased antisocial behaviour, and reduced educational attainment. Lead exposure also causes anaemia, hypertension, renal impairment, immunotoxicity and toxicity to the reproductive organs. The neurological and behavioural effects of lead are believed to be irreversible.”

What are state officials doing?

A pipeline connecting Flint and other central Michigan counties with Lake Huron is in the works and scheduled to be completed by late 2016. In the meantime, according to a recent Washington Post article, the state has offered more than $10 million to pay for the temporary switch back to the Detroit water system, in addition to covering the costs of water testing and water filters.

 

 

Spurred on By Republican Hate Speech – Muslims Become the New N-Word In America

About 20 years ago, I was doing a project down in Mississippi. My coworker from the client side was a black man, call him Joe (imagine the kind of slow talking, quiet guy that when he says something, it is well worth listening to), and an Iranian who had come to the country after the Shah had fallen. Our Persian co-worker was amazed at the “friendliness” of the white southerners we met, The fact that they spoke, and almost always said hello, please, and Thank You. Joe explained that in the south, manners were a standard by which many people judged themselves and those they met. Didn’t mean they liked you, or wanted to invite you home to join the family. At which out rather dark skinned Persian co-worker declared that Persians were “white”. Joe laughed, and explained…”Down here we got black folks, and we go white folks, and “other”. And ‘other’ in your case is what the rednecks down here call ‘A-Rab’, which means if the isht hits the fan down here…Ain’t nobody coming to help you.”

Since that time, several hundred thousand Muslims have moved to America from other parts of the Middle East, including Iraq. Like any immigrant group to America, they are first met with insensitivity born of ignorance, and then hate, usually followed by grudging respect when the rest of America readjusts their “head” about such group. Doesn’t mean the ethno-racism, or color racism goes away…

Except when Politicians or Political parties make that racism “Acceptable”…

The next thing Muslim immigrants are going to have to realize, is the bigots go after the weak and defenseless, not someone who can fight back. As such, they are going to have to learn the lessons that black folks (and immigrants) learned a long time ago, yet again in protecting women and children.

Muslim student nearly run over by man who called her a terrorist: ‘I’m terrified to cross the street now’

A Muslim pre-med student said she was nearly run over and killed by a man who called her a terrorist.

Haneen Jasim said she was wearing her hijab as she walked home Saturday night from studying at a Starbucks near the University of Cincinnati, reported WLWT-TV.

The 22-year-old student said the driver started honking his horn, cursing and calling her a terrorist as she crossed the street — and then he drove straight toward her and didn’t stop.

Three people walking in front of Jasim grabbed her and pulled her onto the sidewalk just before the car struck her.

“Within an instant he tried to run over me,” Jasim said. “If it wasn’t for the three people in front of me, grabbing me onto the sidewalk, I would have been dead right there.”

Jasim said the man drove away before she could read his license plate number, and she wasn’t sure police could help her without that information.

So she instead called the Council on American Islamic Relations, whose officials said this was the third such incident of anti-Muslim harassment reported in Cincinnati since the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.

“It’s very disappointing, as well that people in our community would stoop so low,” said Karen Dabdoub, executive director of the local CAIR chapter. “Obviously, the people here had nothing to do with the Paris attack or any terrorist attacks or terrorist ideology for that matter.”

 

Dabdoub said a Muslim woman was assaulted in a Kroger parking lot in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood, and another Musli woman was insulted and spat on by someone in a passing car.

 

The Cycle of the Carceral State

America incarcerates more citizens than Communist China and Russia combined. This country has the single largest prison population in the world. “Getting tough on crime” has had serious societal impact in terms of ripping apart social structures, and promoting inter-generational poverty.

Report: One in 14 children have had incarcerated parent

One in 14 children have at least one parent behind bars and children in these situations suffer from low self esteem, poor mental and physical health, and other problems, a national research organization says.

Child Trends, an organization based in Bethesda, Md., is releasing its report Parents Behind Bars: What Happens to Their Children? on Tuesday. The group hopes the findings will prod prisons, schools and lawmakers to make changes that will help young people who have incarcerated parents.

“The issue of what some people have termed mass incarceration in the United States has really attracted a lot of attention so we were interested in looking at this issue,” David Murphey, report co-author and senior research scientist at Child Trends, said in a telephone interview with USA TODAY. “We feel it’s important to put this on the radar screen” and help people “realize there’s more to it than the adults themselves,” Murphey said.

The 20-page report indicates that when it comes to black children, the number who have had an incarcerated parent rises to one in nine, and poor children are three times more likely to have had an incarcerated parent than children from higher income households. Rural children are more likely than urban children to have had an incarcerated parent, the report says. In the 6-to-11 age group, children who have had parents behind bars have problems in school, and the likelihood of such problems increases among older children, according to the report.

“Most research finds negative outcomes for these children, such as childhood health and behavioral problems and grade retention,” Murphey said. “Children who grow up with a parent in prison are more likely to suffer from poor mental and physical health in adulthood.”

The report also indicates that parental incarceration doesn’t happen in isolation. Often, children who have had a parent behind bars also have experienced other childhood traumas, such as divorce or living with a parent with a substance abuse problem, Child Trends reports. More than half have experienced divorce, compared to one in six of other children, and more than a third experienced domestic violence, compared with one in 20 of other children, according to Child Trends.

Deborah Jiang-Stein, a Minneapolis-based author and inmate advocate, was born in prison and believes that it is good that the report will likely generate conversation on the topic. Families tend not to talk about this issue, and Jiang-Stein said she has met many incarcerated mothers who have told their children they are away at college.

“The stigma and shame associated with it is haunting, so that’s why the more awareness the better,” she Jiang-Stein, founder of the unPrison Project, which empowers women and girls, and author of Prison Baby: A Memoir. “Addiction and trauma and developmental delays impact every kid that I’ve said has a parent in prison. Part of it is the loss that no one talks about. And the less we talk, the more damage it is.”

The problem is growing too, Jiang-Stein said. Ten years ago, there were 60,000 children in the country with a parent in prison. Today, there are 2.7 million, and that is due to a spike in the rate of incarcerated women, she said. She attributes this to more women responding to domestic abuse.

According to Hope for Miami, an organization that advocates for the children of incarcerated parents, such children often experience depression as well as shame at having a parent behind bars. They also are more likely to have encounters with the law themselves, the organization reports. Services to help these children are lacking and too few, the group says on its website.

Child Trends recommends reducing the stigma tied to having a parent who is incarcerated, improving communications between children and incarcerated parents, and making prison visits less stressful for children by creating child-friendly visiting areas and relaxing security procedures for children.

The organization based its report on data taken from the 2011-2012 National Survey ofChildren’s Health, a telephone survey sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Data was collected between Feb. 28, 2011, and June 25, 2012. The survey included 95,677 interviews.