Here’s your week in review, in haiku.
1.
Least favorite things:
suspicious brown packages
tied up with false flags
2.
One caravan, one
Florida man, one ancient
3.
Ted bobs. Beto weaves.
Abrams leans in. Kemp doubles
down. Mid-term whiplash.
4.
We’ll look back on late
stage capitalism through
Gritty eyes and hearts
5.
We are just aunties
and uncles planning Meghan’s
baby shower gift
Have a gritty and joyous weekend.
On Point
| The Trump Administration pushes to remove the word “gender” from UN human rights policy documents |
| It is yet another in a series of direct attacks on the safety and dignity of transgender people. US officials are pushing for revisions to policy statements that would replace the word “gender” with “women.” For example, in a recent draft paper on trafficking introduced by Germany and the Philippines, the US wants to switch phrases like “gender-based violence” to “violence against women”. Not so fast, warns one UN official. “We are seeing this more and more coming up on the Third Committee, and this is going to be a battle in the coming weeks,” they said. |
| The Guardian |
| Google’s history of over-paying and coddling powerful men who were accused of sexual misconduct |
| While one of the men named, Andy Rubin, disputes some details of the account, this New York Times piece paints a broad picture of a company that has valued the safety and contributions of men over women. After the article was published, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, wrote an email to staffers addressing the story and revealed that 48 people had been dismissed for sexual harassment over the last two years. None had received exit packages. “We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe and inclusive workplace,” he wrote. “We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action.” |
| New York Times |
| The man who killed two black strangers at a Kroger supermarket tried to enter a black church first |
| There are still many unanswered questions about Gregory Bush’s motives, and allegations that he made a racist remark immediately after the attack are still being confirmed. But what is clear is that surveillance video recorded the gunman’s unsuccessful attempt to enter the predominantly black First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown, shortly after a midweek service had ended. “There were 70 people here at our weekly meeting service just an hour before he came by,” said the church’s administrator. “I’m just thankful that all of our doors and security was in place.” |
| New York Times |
The Woke Leader
| Gardening while black |
| This was the offense, as Marc Peeples’s lawyer describes it, that compelled three white women to repeatedly call the police as his client labored to turn an overgrown park into a community garden to feed the families in the Detroit neighborhood he had once called home. It was an attempt to address the food deserts that blight under-represented communities, but also, says The New York Times, “a personal redemptive mission after three years in prison on drug charges.” Over a number of months, the three women called the police repeatedly, accusing Peeples of terrorizing white residents, illegally painting trees, and one falsely accused him of sexual misconduct. Eventually, he was arrested and went to trial, though for once, things went better than expected. |
| New York Times |
| On grief, death and love |
| Grief puts a person on a twisted position, at once in pain for having lost, and amazed for having loved. This is the tender revelation from this episode of The TED Interview podcast, in which writer Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) talks about the death of her best friend, with whom she had unexpectedly fallen in love. “It’s an honor to be in grief. It’s an honor to feel that much, to have loved that much. It’s what’s owed. I wouldn’t miss it. I wouldn’t have missed a minute of it.” In this lengthy conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson, she talks about the visceral pain of grief, and how it arrives without warning. “But to stiffen, to resist, to fight it is to hurt yourself,” she says. “It’s almost like being roiled in a wave. You just let it come, and it’s this tremendous psychological and spiritual challenge to relax in the awesome power of it until it’s gone through you …” |
| TED Ideas |
| How to be a trans ally |
| People I trust tell me that this is one of the better “how to be an ally” posters around, and although it focuses specifically on trans allyship, the principles easily translate to any group who needs someone to stand beside, behind, and occasionally, in front of them. It was commissioned and created by The 519, a Toronto-based non-profit agency providing a wide array of programs and services to the LGBTQ2S community and their families. Please share. |
| The 519 |
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