Don’t Let Them Kill Troy Davis

Troy Davis will be killed at 7:00 PM EDT tomorrow, Wednesday, September 21st, 2011. The state of Georgia has sentenced him to death for a crime for which “no forensic or DNA evidence linking Davis to the shooting has ever been found, and nor has the murder weapon.” He has been on death row for nearly as long as I have been alive.

Amnesty International urges people to demand that “Chatham County (Savannah) District Attorney Larry Chisolm seek a withdrawal of the death warrant and support clemency himself” (Chatham County’s District Attorney’s office’s contact information: Telephone: 912-652-7308   Fax: 912-652-7328). Their petition to the Georgia Pardons Board and District Attorney Chisolm is still available here. Call Judge Penny Freesemann at Telephone: 912-652-7252 who has to accept the DA’s withdrawal.

Regardless What Happens With Hurricane Irene, Rikers Island Will Not Be Evacuated

The entire East Coast is preparing for Hurricane Irene. For New York City, according to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, this means a shutdown of the MTA and the first mandatory evacuation in NYC’s history, which will affect roughly 250,000 people.  It does not, however, mean that anything will be done about those at Rikers Island. To quote Jean Casella and James Ridgeway’s “Locked Up and Left Behind: New York’s Prisoners and Hurricane Irene,” “Rikers Island, which lies in the waters between Queens and the Bronx, is not highlighted at all [on the city's evacuation map], meaning it is not to be evacuated under any circumstances.” Let me repeat that, just in case you somehow missed it. It is not be to evacuated under any circumstances. 

Nail Polish isn’t just for women, but Alphanail is NOT what I had in mind

I think nail polish is fabulous. Seriously, I love it. Black, bright colors, jewel tones — I think it’s great. I’ve posted before arguing that nail polish should be socially acceptable for everyone, not just for (feminine cis) women. However, when I say that nail polish is for everyone, I don’t mean Alphanail. Alphanail rather horrifies me, actually. Bitch Media posted a good response to it here.

The Ugly Side of SlutWalk

I have a few friends who are really excited about SlutWalk. I didn’t know much about it; I just assumed that it had to do with sex-positivity and the fact that wearing “provocative” clothing doesn’t mean that someone is “asking for it.” Those are good messages, and so I didn’t give it much thought. And then another friend posted a link on Facebook to Aura Blogando’s “SlutWalk: A Stroll Through White Supremacy,” and everything changed. 

Fag

A while back, I came across an article online from Vanity Fair regarding a then-recent episode of Glee. Brett Berk, the writer — an openly gay man who uses the term “faggy” to refer to himself – uses the term “fags” in a relatively innocuous way, referring to the Dalton Warblers of Glee, and it created an immediate uproar. Frankly, though, all of the ’no one should ever use that horrible word, and he should be fired!’ people upset me more than his use of the word did.

Feeling Disillusioned About Journalism

A bit ago, a friend was interviewed by someone from the Associated Press. He had a lot of really fierce, abolitionist things to say (because that’s just what he’s like), and I was so excited for him. When the actual article came out, it was like nothing we’d all expected. They barely mentioned him, and when they did refer to him, they made up quotes that he never said, they completely ignored all of the fierce things he said, and they basically misrepresented him. 

“You Need To Respond Verbally.”

It frustrates me when the color of my skin makes people think that I don’t speak English. I was on a plane a few months ago, sitting behind the people in the exit row. The flight attendant asked the person whether they understood the requirements of sitting in the exit row; when the person (presumably) nodded, they were told, “You need to respond verbally.”

It brought back a memory of a flight I’d been on previously. I was sitting in exit row, and the flight attendant asked whether I understood the instructions. I nodded — I don’t remember how many times I’ve flown seated in the exit row, but it was enough to be nothing new. Instead of telling me that I need to respond verbally, the flight attendant then asked me whether I understood English.

This Is Just Wrong

While I was checking Facebook a few minutes ago, I just saw a link to this article and video — “Utah police shot and killed a man within seconds of storming his parents’ home.” I’m not going to summarize the article or what happened; go to the article for that. I honestly don’t know what to say.

On so many levels, there is so much wrong with this.

Leslie Feinberg: While a hostile relative re-writes my life

Leslie Feinberg: While a hostile relative re-writes my life: ‘Who is, and is not, my family’

by Leslie Feinberg on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 12:46pm, and reposted by Ryan.

[please repost]

In autumn 2010, Knopf published a “transgender” themed young adult novel. The author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, is an estranged relative of mine.

The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Hyde’s young adult fiction novel will come from those who are living the identities, and oppressions to which she has applied her imagination.

However, as part of the media coverage and publicity tour for the release of the young adult novel, Hyde claims much of her expertise and authority for writing her “transgender”-themed young adult novel as based on my life and identity.

Kenneth Tong, You Disgust Me

Jezebel just reported on a man who is “using his Twitter to promote ‘managed anorexia,’ which will ‘help girls all over the world know that to be skinny is to be perfect & to be fat is unacceptable.’” His name is Kenneth Tong, and I haven’t heard anything this utterly revolting and unbelievable in a very, very long time.