reposted from Racewire.org

As I write this there are no less than 6 helicopters circling overhead in downtown Oakland. On the first day of the 10th year since Amadou Diallo was brutally gunned down by police in New York City, Oscar Grant was fatally shot in the back by a BART police officer, and the event was caught on video.

As I write this, rumors are flying and media is fanning the riot flames - car and trash fires, police in riot gear and tanks, restaurant windows being smashed, tear gas and rubber bullets being used. We won’t know the full picture till the night is over and the smoke clears, but the story of the successful nonviolent protest earlier this evening has been overshadowed by this angry chaos.

What is absolutely clear is that folks are furious about the murder of Oscar Grant, furious that a week has passed with no statement or acknowledgment of what happened. What is clear is that we currently don’t have community accountability over our police here in Oakland. In this bubble of progress we are hampered by the same brutal power dynamics that plague the rest of the nation. Racially driven policing that allows the use of lethal weapons in the pursuit of justice is a failed model.

What we need:

Some weight-loss ads have snuck their way into our ad queue - we're working to get them down now. Thanks to all who sent emails alerting us!

This will be my last review from the road, as sadly, the road trip is over! Thanks again to everyone who posted suggestions of places to visit and sent me emails.

This review is not of a place, but a website and online community, Couchsurfing. From their website:

CouchSurfing is a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.

This trip was my first time ever trying Couchsurfing--I had never even heard of it. My travel companion had tried it though, so I trusted her judgment. Basically you set up an online profile on the site with information about yourself, and the idea is that the members will offer their homes (and couches) to surfers when they are traveling. People connect by emailing one another. There are built-in safety nets, which allow people to post reviews of one another (both the hosts and the surfers) so you can see how well-rated people are and look for any red flags.

We had a great experience couchsurfing in Asheville, NC. We connected with an awesome couple who let us stay with them, even offering us a bed in their roommate's room and feeding us a yummy home cooked meal. There is no money exchanged, and people only bring gifts or offerings if they so desire. We bought the ingredients for the meal we shared and left them a nice note.

I highly recommend it, you can find surfers all over the country. I definitely felt more comfortable doing it with someone else (both for the awkwardness factor and for safety), but I think it's a great way to travel on a budget and meet cool people.

Anyone else ever tried Couchsurfing?

There are no words for this. I feel so much rage and I can only send my support and encouragement to my Bay Area organizers and remind everyone that now is a time for non-violence. Yet another example of how gross abuse of power leads to the loss of lives for youth of color.

This is video from a camera phone of Oscar Grant being shot by BART police while he was handcuffed.

*trigger warning*

You can read about it more here and Postbougie has another video that is equally as stunning.

What you can do right now:

1. If you are in the Bay there is a march today at the Fruitvale BART, details here.

2. If you are not in the Bay here are 5 things you can do right now.

We must let the world know we will not stand for our youth being murdered senselessly.

It seems that trying to force women to view ultrasounds - because we're too stupid to know that when you get an abortion, you get an abortion - just isn't enough for some folks. Now anti-choicers want to decide where women view that ultrasound.

Seven S.C. House lawmakers have prefiled a bill that would require women seeking abortions to be given a list of clinics and other facilities that provide free ultrasounds. That list could include pregnancy crisis centers -- many run by antiabortion groups -- that actively discourage abortion and encourage women to choose other alternatives.

The bill expands upon the law the General Assembly passed this year that requires abortion providers to give women seeking an abortion the option of viewing an ultrasound beforehand. (Emphasis mine)

Lovely. South Carolina is terrible on reproductive justice issues in general (91 percent of the state's counties have no abortion provider and there are a ton of restrictions on access to abortion) so I guess this should come as no surprise. But it still irritates the shit out of me.

Related: The politics of "informed consent"
Mandatory ultrasounds and "informed consent"

Our gal Courtney has a great piece at TAP on dating violence prevention programs and how they rely on gender stereotypes. Check it out.

Like many politicized and not so "political" women of color I've had my qualms identifying as a feminist. As addressed before the Internet blew up, traditional western feminist discourse connotes white, middle class, straight women and many of the issues fought center this group; that has been covered extensively Online, in print, and on Feministing by folks like Samhita. Zoom back to me, as a 27 year-old daughter of working-class Mexican immigrants and a single urban mama , my lifestyle and at times worldview does not seem to be grasped by western feminism.  Like I've said before in my other blog and in real life conversations, my mama, grandmama (resting in peace now) aunties, mentors and closest friends do not identify as feminists and are some of the staunchest, strongest, hard working, autonomous independent thinkers, and just people that I know. All without identifying with feminism, and as complicated as that is, I respect that and even admire it. Honoring the women in my blood and non blood family  relating to them, has made it easy for me to question and at moments reject dominant feminism.

This made me really happy today.

In its new package of rule changes, the House has finally decided to make its official language gender neutral, recognizing the growing representation of women in Congress (including as Speaker of the House). Gone are references to "he," "chairman," and phrases such as "his duties."

I'm literally giddy. Melissa breaks down why this is so important:

[A]n inevitable effect of regarding "male" as the Norm is regarding "female" as the Other. Every time we engage in the little, unimportant thing of male-universal language, we are reinforcing the very foundation of inequality upon which the entire structure of institutional sexism rests.

In short, language matters.

The week before Christmas, one of the worst environmental disasters in US history occured in Roane County, Tennessee. From the Tennessean:

Millions of yards of ashy sludge broke through a dike at TVA's Kingston coal-fired plant Monday, covering hundreds of acres, knocking one home off its foundation and putting environmentalists on edge about toxic chemicals that may be seeping into the ground and flowing downriver.

About 2.6 million cubic yards of slurry -- enough to fill 798 Olympic-size swimming pools -- rolled out of the pond Monday, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Cleanup will take at least several weeks, or, in a worst-case scenario, years.

The ash slide, which began just before 1 a.m., covered as many as 400 acres as deep as 6 feet. The wave of ash and mud toppled power lines, covered Swan Pond Road and ruptured a gas line. It damaged 12 homes, and one person had to be rescued, though no one was seriously hurt. Much remains to be determined, including why this happened, said Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

These photos really say it all, and it's hard to imagine the hardship the members of this community are facing. These kinds of disasters simply bring home the fact that we've been horribly managing waste and byproducts from industry for a long while, and the results are going to begin to catch up with us. It's not just about global warming anymore.

An anti-bulimia ad from Pro Mädchen in Düsseldorf, Germany has been placed in an...interesting location.

...through their WPP ad agency red cell, placed these splatter stickers (headline translates: Bulimia is curable) on the undersides of toilet lids in women's bathrooms at area colleges.

Now, I see what they're going for and part of me thinks its innovative. But another part of me finds it kind of offensive - a splatter ad? And let's not even talk about the fact that it's pink. But perhaps it's an effective way to reach young women.

What do you think?