LAFAYETTE, LA: 21 year old Mickey Shunick (pictured) was last seen at about 2:00 am (May 19) riding a black and gold Schwinn Cutter bicycle with glittery gold handlebars from a friend’s home in the Saint Streets area of Lafayette. She was riding back home to the area near Ambassador and Congress, but never made it home and hasn’t been seen since. She is 5’1” tall, weighing about 115 pounds, has shoulder length curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a small tattoo of a bicycle on her right outer ankle and a nose ring on her left nostril. She was last seen wearing a pastel multicolored striped shirt, light wash denim skinny jeans, and silver ankle boots. She was also carrying a light brown leather backpack, a black and yellow Vera Bradley wallet, a black Verizon slider phone and a small pink container of pepper spray. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the Lafayette Police at 337-291-8633 or emailfindmickeyshunick@yahoo.com
signal boost for a follower
(via slut-fury)
- A little bit Racist
- A little bit Homophobic
- A little bit Mysoginistic
- A little bit Trans* Phobic
Workfare is simple: more workfare = hours cut for paid workers = lower wages = more people claiming benefits.
Unless you’re a CEO, you lose.
If you support workfare in any fucking way, I hope you get hit with a fucking bus since you have no fucking problems with the poor being bussed in for slave labour.
(via lord-kitschener)
Sarah Seltzer on Sandra Fluke and privilege
On Sandra Fluke & privilege
(via projectqueer)
Omg you guys, I just got back and you’re asking me all this shit. /:
Okay
I’m gonna get long winded but comprehensive here cause I’m only gonna explain this once before I go back to listening to Yuna.
“Dreadlocks” are not a natural thing for hair to do.
There are many cultures (whites excluded) that have hairstyles similar to dreadlocks ingrained in belief systems, holy worship and symbolism. But in every single one of those cultures, the hairstyle isn’t called “dreadlocks”, they’re called something from the native tongue of the respective culture.
Do you see where I’m going with this? “Dreadlocks” are exclusive to Jamaican/Black culture and the Rastafari spirituality not only because of the hairstyle, but because of the term itself. “Dreadlocks”, the very word, is our own. The spirituality and processes used to create the “dreadlocks” are our own.
So when a white person decides to let their spaghetti string hair knot up into some crusty cow turds and call them dreadlocks, it is not “natural”. When they decide to backcomb their hair and use all kinds of greasy nonsense to get their hair into cylindrical knots, it is not “natural”. It is appropriation.
It is also not locing (Rastafari culture is strictly against the use of combs to create locs, as combs are considered a part of Babylon).
“Dreadlocks” in the Rastafari belief system are a symbol of rejection of “Babylon”, which is what rastas call western/white culture and the evilness of it. It is a symbol of rejection of -isms such as racism (especially racism actually) and white supremacy (this is also why calling the Rastafari belief ‘rastafarianISM’ is a great disrespect). It is a symbol of the acceptance of Black hair texture, as white supremacy denigrates and categorizes Black hair as inferior and disgusting/unprofessional. Dreadlocks are strong representation of Black love, acceptance, pride and power. A white person wearing dreadlocks is a strong representation of an ignorant asshole who almost always has no idea what they have on their head and why locs go against everything they’re about.
Are there white rastas? Yes. Do those white rastas wear dreadlocks? Some of them do but most of them don’t. It isn’t necessary to wear dreadlocks to be a rasta and white rastas understand that the dreadlocks would immediately lose their powerful meaning if they were worn on their heads. The white rastas who do wear dreadlocks normally do so with the permission of their non-white rasta brethren, so as to be somewhat sure they’re not disrespecting the ones they’re close to.
People usually ask “what of the Black people who wear dreadlocks without knowledge of their meaning? Is that appropriation?”. No. While the term “dreadlocks” is something a part of Rastafari and Jamaican culture, the hairstyle of locs/dreadlocks and the meaning of dreadlocks is of and FOR Black culture and pride. A Black person wearing dreadlocks without knowledge of its meaning is still exhibiting its meaning just by wearing it on their head. Its symbolism has not faded just because the person doesn’t know about it. The very act of locing your hair as a Black person is the act of rejecting white supremacy and the forces aligned with it that say your hair is unacceptable, inferior and wrong.
Now….
Back to Yuna….
“
Basically, the Republican strategy for the past three years has been this:
1. Do everything humanly possible to prevent the economy from recovering.
2. Wait for 2012.
3. Run a campaign focused on the fact that the economy is lousy.
” —Kevin Drum (via wilwheaton)
And you know, this isn’t hyperbole, or election season hysteria, or whatever; this is a documentable fact. This is exactly what the Republicans in office have been doing. They don’t want to represent or help you. They don’t give a fuck about you. All they want to do with you is get your vote and then strangle you for all the money you have. Republicans are evil.
(via wilwheaton)
Zubat Is The Only REAL Pokemon.: Say it with me now: -
- Dr. George Tiller’s killing was not justifiable homicide, it was murder.
- Blowing up abortion clinics is terrorism.
- Defacing and covering abortion clinics in graffiti is vandalism.
- Chanting “You’re next!” at doctors and clinic administrators is threatening them.
- Preventing patients from entering a clinic by shouting at them, distracting them, walking in front of them, blocking their way with your bodies, or preventing them from exiting their cars is harassment.
You’re not a good person if you in any way, shape or form support, defend, or ignore any of these actions. Stop deluding yourself.
I can’t really fully count myself as a pro-life/anti-abortion person (I don’t think abortions should happen, but I know no matter what they will, and I would rather they be legal than they be illegal and women have to go back to methods that are often deadly for the mother as well), but who is disagreeing with this? Aside from a few crazies (and obviously the people doing it, which is disgusting), most people no matter what side they’re on can agree that going about things this way is sick.
Lots of people disagree with this. Anti-choicers raised their voices and demanded that the killer of George Tiller be tried for justifiable homicide. Operation Rescue, an entire “Pro-Life” organization, HELPED Tiller’s murderer stalk him, and then DEFENDED his actions. Not to mention the lists upon lists of both abortion providers and patients OR has released, making an easy-to follow hit list.
These are not the actions of a few, nor the fringe. These are the actions of the zealots who make up the true “Pro-Life” movement. Have you ever stood outside a clinic and witnessed what they do? Have you ever been screamed at, called a murderer, called an assistant murderer—watched them yelled and chase a young girl who’s fetus was already dead, refusing to listen as she sobbed at them, “By baby is DEAD, it’s DEAD!”?
They chant. They use fear mongering. They stand outside car doors to attempt to block patients from opening them. They yell tirades of insults at patients, they hold up fake images of “aborted babies,” which are in truth miscarriages.
This is not a fringe-group, this is the norm at any clinic that is frequented by anti-choice protesters. This is what they do. They terrorize, and they frighten. And what’s infuriating are the pro-lifers who ignore that this happens, they just conveniently ignore that the people on their side are committing these atrocities—they defend them, or they are silent about them.
This is the only critique I see of this post going around, that “The actions of the few are not the beliefs of the many,” but I’m here to tell you that this isn’t just a few people. This isn’t just some of the movement. This is a HUGE chunk of it, and it’s toxic, dangerous, and horrifying.
Reblogging because it can’t be said enough, THIS is what “pro-life” is about. It’s not just “a few bad apples”.
(via shorm)
click through or click here to buy one of these gender justice prints from the awesome Talcott to support ICATH (Informed Consent for Access to Trans Health). Each print is 18x12” and SO AWESOME. Proceeds will offset training costs as well as advocacy and therapy session fees for those who demonstrate need. More info at www.icath.org.
Talcott says, “This print: “I’m Not Trapped in Anything But Your Strange Sense of Binary.” refers to the compulsive feminizing or masculinizing that non-binary and/or genderqueer, gender different people often face. When I’m not being incessantly Sir-Ma’am-ed, I’m expected to present the narrative that I am “trapped in the wrong body, etc”…While for some people this experience is true and valid, for others there is a much more fluid and non-binary gender experience.”
Please reblog and snatch one up, if you’re so inclined!
I wish I had money to buy one of these…
(via cassie-cooties)
Black Doc Sues UCLA, Cites Racist Treatment
A lawyer for the doctor at the center of the “gorilla slide” viral video spoke with The Root.
By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: May 31, 2012 at 12:07 AM(The Root) — It’s no surprise that Dr. Christian Head’s account of being depicted as a gorilla sodomized by his white supervisor in a slideshow shown at a UCLA School of Medicine graduation “roast” has been the subject of national attention and outrage.
The African-American head-and-neck surgeon’s tale of over-the-top racism by the university went viral, thanks to a YouTube video chronicling the allegations and a Change.org petition calling on the UCLA Board of Regents to “end the racial discrimination and deplorable mistreatment” against Head.
But the worst part of the “gorilla slide,” as it’s described in an April 17 discrimination action filed on Head’s behalf against his supervisors and the Regents, is that, according to the 49-year-old doctor, it was merely one moment in a pattern of discrimination, harassment and humiliation by the UCLA School of Medicine that he says has lasted for years.
And according to the April 17 complaint, the physician, who was once named “Most Innovative Surgeon” by Black Enterprise and who launched UCLA’s Johnson Cancer Center Tumor lab, faced retaliation by the institution when he asked for the wrongs against him to be righted.
As the only African-American tenured professor at UCLA’s department of head and neck surgery, Head says it all started when his supervisor, Marilene Wang, labeled him an “affirmative action hire” and “affirmative action project” and proclaimed that black doctors like him were the reason for failed hospitals. Things got worse, according to the complaint, when he cooperated with an investigation against Wang. He says the retaliation escalated until, at a 2006 event for graduating students, it became public. Head tells his version of the events in the video (shown above) created by NAACP executive Willis Edwards to spread the word about the case, saying:
[A] series of 20 slides, describing me as a poor doctor … then the final slide was a photo of a gorilla on all fours with my head photoshopped onto the gorilla, with a smile on my face, and a Caucasian man, completely naked, sodimizing me from behind, and my boss’ head photoshopped on the person, smiling. I could feel the pressure in my chest, listening to them laugh. I waited until the laughter subsided, and then I approached the podium, and I pulled my boss aside, Dr. Gerald Berke, and I said to him, “How could you let this happen? How could you do this?” And he just smiled and chuckled, you know … “What’s the problem?”
Head says the school ignored his requests to address the incident and convinced him that pushing to have his allegations of racism addressed would put his career on the line.
Heeding that warning, he let the issue go until after he was tenured, but when he did readdress it, he reports that things only got worse: His complaint details receiving paychecks for amounts less than a dollar, teaching opportunities denied, deliberate attempts to sabotage his medical career, plus discrimination, harassment and retaliation that all continue, he and his attorneys claim, to this day.
The Root reached out to the UCLA Head and Neck Clinic, where defendants Gerald Berke and Marilene Wang work alongside Head as physicians specializing in otolaryngology, as well as the university’s media-relations office and chancellor’s office. All offices contacted declined to comment beyond the university’s official statement on the case, condemning the behavior described in the complaint but saying, “UCLA has formal grievance and disciplinary procedures that afford appropriate due process review of any complaints of discrimination or mistreatment. Dr. Christian Head and his attorney were repeatedly advised of these procedures and encouraged to utilize them. They chose not to do so.” (Read the full statement here.) To that, Head’s attorney Shannon Foley responds that the university’s procedures “proved not to be trustworthy.”
The complaint, filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, details the allegations, but according to Foley, the case is simple. In her words, “It’s about a very reputable doctor who has been punished for reporting what he believed was discrimination and harassment to his boss, to management, to the chancellors and to the regent, and who has been retaliated against beyond measure since then.”
The Root talked to Foley about the “intolerable” atmosphere that she says Head continues to face at UCLA, the outpouring of support from the black UCLA community and what’s next in the courtroom and in her client’s career.
The Root: The “gorilla slide,” as it’s called in Dr. Head’s complaint, is the most talked-about aspect of this case. Can you put it in the context of his entire experience at UCLA?
Shannon Foley: That was just one of many events. It was the culmination of years of discrimination … and, in fact, things have continued since then. He’s treated differently than other doctors there, to this day.
TR: So Dr. Head is still at work at UCLA?
SF:He’s still there. Things are very difficult, and almost intolerable. They are intolerable. He’s experienced an escalation of a lot of the retaliatory and discriminatory events — for example, lack of coverage by residents. Other doctors have coverage by residents and he does not, in his surgeries and for emergency situations with patients. No other doctors have that experience [of being denied coverage by residents].
With every other doctor, if there’s a resident there on staff, the resident will cover for them. But he’s made to come in each and every time, in the middle of the night, any time. And he does. He takes care of his patients.
TR:Does he plan to stay on regardless of the outcome of the litigation?
SF: He’s doing his best to cover [his patients], and it’s becoming increasingly difficult. I can’t tell whether he’ll be able to do that.
TR: The complaint says Dr. Head was referred to as an “affirmative action hire” and an “affirmative action case.” Is that something you hear often in your work on employment-discrimination matters?
SF: It’s outrageous that someone would refer to a physician who was hired there and who was a board-certified surgeon, and who has the same certification as the particular doctor speaking, as an “affirmative action hire.” That is not normal. He is the only African American in that particular department, and for some reason, she [Wang] wanted to have him considered less than. And she has been making racist comments from the beginning, and she was determined to interfere with his advancement throughout.
Overall, this is one of the most outrageous cases that I have seen. The depiction of him as a gorilla goes far beyond what I have seen. The only thing I’ve heard of from [my employment-discrimination attorney] colleagues that’s similar involves depictions of lynching. And in effect, doing this in a group setting and having everyone laugh — it’s no different.
TR: What is a university’s responsibility to respond to allegations like Dr. Head’s? What should UCLA have done when Dr. Head first raised his concerns about his treatment?
SF: They have duties to conduct an investigation. They have duties to respond like any organization; they have duties to talk to all the witnesses, not just a couple, and to remedy the situation. They also have a duty to ensure that there’s no retaliation against witnesses and against the person who’s made the complaint. And, as we’ve set forth in our complaint, that didn’t happen here.
TR:What’s next?
SF: There are some procedural things that are happening with the complaint — the defendants will have an opportunity to respond. I’m not sure how they will respond. [Wednesday] there is a rally planned for campus in support of Dr. Head. There’s been a huge outpouring of response from the black faculty, from the African Student Union, and they’ve been very supportive.
TR: Is there a sense that his experience is representative of a larger problem with race discrimination at UCLA?
SF: I can’t speak for them, but from what I’m hearing, others [in the UCLA community] have experienced their own discrimination.
TR: What would be the ideal outcome of this case?
SF: If UCLA could retain and recruit African Americans and treat them with the respect that they deserve, and make Dr. Head whole for the years of discrimination and harassment he’s experienced, so that the road could be paved for others who come behind him.
This is just…wow. I am fucking floored.
This is fucking disgusting.
This is why it has to be “all about race”. This. Right fucking here.
Because there are still white people out there who think it is not only acceptable, but funny, to Photoshop the head of a Black man on a fucking gorilla, and then to depict that “gorilla” being sodomized by a white man.
I’m like fuming. I know high-ranking members of this administration and I am fucking side-eyeing all of them.
Ana de Mendoza de la Cerda
Was a spanish aristocrat during the XVI century. She was one of the most talented women of her time, and even though she lost an eye during a fencing practice, she was considered one of the most beautiful ladies in the spanish court. Her haughty character and her love for luxury became her best presentation etiquette.
(Source: fuckyeahhistorycrushes, via lord-kitschener)
