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galaxychild518 · 3 years

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Pride and acceptance

This was five years ago I was seventeen years old.I was a part of this teen arts organization called Art Connection specifically their TRaC program.It stands for Teen Review and Critics.We would go to different art events and meet artist.After the events we would discuss it and write critiques.This was the last day of the program so every group had to present what we did during the 10 week course.Art Connection held a teen exhibition art gallery called “Where You Been ?”.The theme of the art was migrantation ,transitioning and tradition in today’s society.The painting I was standing in front of is called “Keep Dancing” by Diomar Solano.This painting caught my eye because I saw the traditional Dominican dress.It reminded me of the my great grandmother made for my cousin when she was one.I always tell my grandma that one day I want to go to the Dominican Republic so I could buy one.The painting also was the first time I’ve seen my community represented in art.I saw my self not just as a Dominican ,but as an Dominican New Yorker.The artist statement says “When I was making this art piece, I was thinking about when you migrate to other countries you have to adapt to that culture without disconnecting with your own and the transition of it is hard.The girl is dancing in a Dominican costume because I’m Dominican and on a train because we often see that in NYC.I was born here so I can’t completely relate ,but I hear stories from my family.When my grandmother and her siblings when to school they were always labeled as Puerto Rican.The teacher would even correct them and they believed the Dominican Republic was made up.Great-grandfather would tell my grandmother and her siblings “These people are idiots tell to look at a map it's the island is right near Haiti” and sure enough that shut them up lol.I will never forget that story because my great grandfather showed them to be proud and stand up for where they came from.People make ignorant comments and assumption towards migrant people on a daily basis.It shouldn’t happen ,but I am happy when migrant people call people out for it because it’s unacceptable.It’s already hard for someone to move to and adapt to another culture why question their identity.

The second painting I liked from the exhibit was called “Home” by Wilfred James Rosario.The girl's purple hair caught my eye.Her hair is flowing beautifully in the wind ,but her face shows pain.When I looked at the artist's statement it connected with me in a deeper way.He says “Through the crisis that is occurring in the Dominican Republic, I wanted to express the emotion. People being killed, discriminated, and kicked out of their country,because of the color of their skin. By painting the model, I wanted to show the emotion that person would have felt; how absolutely upsetting this is.”Historically colorism has been a huge issue in the Dominican Republic.When you look at how Haitians are treated in the Dominican Republic.I’ve heard comments like “Oh she really dark skin she must be Haitian” as if Dominicans couldn’t be black.Rafael Trujillo the dictator started the hate with parsley massacre back in 1937.He killed people who didn’t know how to say perejil because he felt Haitians couldn’t say the word with their accent.Over 20,000 Haitians were killed for a simple word.Now haitians are being kicked out of the Dominican Republic.It’s really sad that they are being treated like this because of their skin.Older generation Dominicans need to realize Dominicans have African descent.Luckily things are changing and we are accepting of the term Afro-Latino.For a while I did struggle with my identity because I experienced being discriminated by a past partners mother.They were a lighter skin Dominican behind my back she would make comments about my hair and question if I was Dominican.I already would get discredited as a Dominican because I barely know spanish so I didn’t need that extra pressure.Now I don’t care because at the end of the day I know who I am.There are these famous faceless dolls in DR called Muñecas Limé they are faceless due to the artist saying there is no specific Dominican features.Till this day I keep that in my mind because they are right I’ve met really light skin and really dark skin Domincians we are all different.

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palestudenttoadbailiff · 4 years

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Muslim Lives Matter TOO

An issue, no it is world crises that never gets mentioned, that does not even cross anyone's mind and it happens on a daily basis it has been happening for years, even before civilization. The violence that is unleashed upon Muslims every single day is unbearable, unacceptable and unprecedented but does anyone speak up against the monsters who tortures, murders and rapes innocent Muslim children and women, the answer is no. NO not a single person does a thing to stop this, why because the rest of the world thinks we deserve it but in reality nobody deserves this kind of treatment it has to come to an end.

As the world defends Asian people for the hate crimes acted upon them which is good people need to defend those who can not do it themselves, but we have also seemed to forget that the same Asians we are protecting are also keeping millions of Muslim people in concentration camps. A sad truth is that the Muslim people of Palestine has been in war since 1948 and it is still ongoing lets face it this is a one way war but if we stand up we might just have the power to stop it. These people have no weapons to defend themselves so many innocent lives being lost and for just some political ploy that the people who are in power oversee, do you not see this is part of a much bigger plan the people in power are trying to everyone against each other. Just like black lives matter campaign and the all lives matter campaign, shouldn't Muslim lives fall under the category of “All lives matter” because we are just as much part of “ all lives” like the rest of the world is. But yet we choose to be silent about this , why? Look at China and how they are trying to ban Islam in their country, authorities are removing crescents from the mosques because according to them Islam is an extremist religion. The Imam and the boy responsible for the call to prayer from a local mosque without any reason at all got arrested. On one occasion the Chinese authorities beat an elderly Muslim lady for wearing hijab, for representing what she believes in she got beat mercilessly. People do not even respect the elderly Muslims. The authorities even went as far as confiscating prayer mats and many copies of the Quran. What is even more sad is that Muslims are not even allowed to wear the clothing that represents our religion, they are not allowed to have long beards and women are not allowed to wear veils or anything that is viewed as “extremist” attire according to the Chinese authorities. Even the children are not even allowed to be educated about Islam even in the comfort of their own homes. These people are having their human rights violated and nothing is done about it.

A variety of repressive tactics are used on an unprecedented scale.Muslims in China are being monitored on a daily basis and their have their privacy invaded without cause. Each and everyday they are questioned about anything that could be seen as “extremism” in the eyes of Chinese laws.Islam is basically outlawed in China.Having a Muslim family member is enough to get you interrogated in an inhumane way. Now for the bigger issue, about the Muslim people who are disappearing in China on a vast scale, where are they you might wonder, oh they are just being held in so called” political education camps” until they are deemed qualified to reside in the country, they have no freedom of movement they have to qualify in order ot moves around from town to town. And proving my point once again there has been little to no international outrage over what may be the world's most draconian and comprehensive control over Muslim life throughout history.

What do you imagine when you hear the word “terrorist” you would imagine a man in a long thobe with a beard right? Preferably a Muslim man but my question is why do we associate Islam with terrorism. First of all you should know the correct meaning of terrorism. According to the United States government Terrorism is: the unlawful forceful violence against persons or property to intermediate for political or social objections. Now listen to this in 2013 a Caucasian Christian male killed three Muslim students known as a hate crime. Did he use an unlawful forceful violence yes he did, was it targeted at against persons or property yes it was, did he want to intermediate for a political or social segments yes he wanted to because it was a hate crime. So i ask this question why was this not considered an act of terrorism it clearly fits the description, was it because he was white i think so. We need to stop associating terrorism with Islam because there is a major difference because anyone could be a terrorist not just Muslims. 9/11 was when the world hated Muslims even more than they did because 15 Arabs hijacked one plane why should the rest of the 1.8 billion Muslims suffer their consequences. Within every religion there exist a spectrum of attitudes and behavior and extremism is not unique to one particular belief system. There are people who view themselves as Muslims who have committed these horrible crimes in the name of Islam but they do not represent the rest of us, they are a minority within Islam and have the wrong interpretation of what Islam is. A vast majority of Muslims around the world reject their violence. Terrorism is not what Islam is check your facts.

Why is it so easy to stand up for every other injustice in the world, but when it comes to Islam everyone goes silent. Its incredibly sad to see that the how war ridden Palestine is and what is the rest of the world?And its a one way war because all those innocent people have no physical weapons to retaliate, lives are being lost as we live our lives and nothing is done to stop it. Yes i agree all lives matter but when are we going to realise that Muslim lives should matter as well. The same Asians that we are protecting is holding our Muslim brother and sisters in concentration camps raping Muslim women, killing our babies , physically and mentally abusing them day in and day out. And yet we are silent standing up for Muslims should not only be on social media platforms for two days, it is something that should never fade and what is more sad is that our own Muslim brothers and sister are afraid to speak up against these wrong doings, because we fear offending the Christian friend we have or the Jewish friends we have and so on. But we forget that Allah has told us” to not take the enemy of Allah as a friend and do not take the friend of Allah as ur enemy”. We want to the live the modern lifestyle and i am not speaking of everyone , i myself have not done my part. So many Muslims are not allowed to walk in the streets because they will be exposed to attacks threats and discrimination and we are mocked for our religion. So i will ask again why, why all of the hate that turns into violence , so many innocent lives lost and for what , what could these people possibly gain. ALL this violence is just wrong we are all human we all have our own beliefs so you tell me what is wrong with Islam its a religion based on peace how can you not see that. Everyone who is not Muslim ask yourselves would you want this to happen to your religion, would you want to be killed like dogs in the streets , no you would not so why is is okay for it to happen to a Muslim, ponder about that. More Muslims will stand up and fight for what is right as they should, and this, this is only the beginning, not all of us can be strong that is why we are an Ummah

Written by: Imraan Hardien With help from Yusriyyah Latief

#muslim lives matter #islam #stop the hate #stop the violence

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irarelypostanything · 4 years

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Unnecessary Arguments - violence against Asian Americans

Person #1: “A bad day is when the McDonalds drive-thru screws up my order.” That was a comment on Fox News highlighting the ridiculousness of the claim that a series of shootings constituted a bad day, and not a hate crime. I repeat, this was a comment on Fox News. Even they agree that this quote is stupid

Person #2: There is no evidence that this was racially motivated

Person #1: We shouldn’t be arguing about this. We should agree that these racist violent acts are horrible, we should agree that something needs to be done about it, and we should go from there.

Person #2: We should agree that violent acts are horrible, and we should agree that racist acts are horrible, but there is no evidence that this was racially motivated

Person #1: You want to start this? Really? I’m tired of staying silent about this for so long. I’m tired of being treated like an outsider in spite of everything I’ve done. We can speak perfect English, we can adopt American holidays, we can work hard and commit no crimes and try to make a good life for ourselves and our families...and now this. We’ve seen the footage of elderly Asians senselessly beaten - our elders, the ones Asian culture holds in the highest esteem. Since the pandemic started, violence against Asian Americans has skyrocketed

Person #2: My issue is not with acts of violence that were obviously racist - my issue is our tendency to create a narrative, with flimsy evidence, that this is somehow all connected. I’ve heard a number of logical leaps taken in the mainstream media. That former president Trump somehow caused this by using the term “China Flu.” That this is part of White supremacy. That the right is to blame

Person #1: A neighbor asked me where I was from

Person #2: Oh, here we go. There’s no such thing as a microaggression. It’s not racist to simply ask where someone is-

Person #1: Let me finish. When I said San Francisco, he asked me my ethnicity. When I said Chinese, he asked if I was documented. When I said yes, he asked me if I had a green card or a visa. When I said I was a citizen, he asked if I had taken a test. When I said I was a fourth generation American, he said that Trump would be sure to keep my kind of people out

Person #2: You’ve already ranted to me about this. That guy was completely crazy

Person #1: Racial slurs yelled at me through the window by strangers, one time when I was ten. I kept thinking that maybe something was wrong with me. Maybe if I just kept acting as American as possible, the others would accept me. But of course, in the eyes people like Trump, I can never really be one of them. Of course not

Person #2: Trump is no longer the president

Person #1: Yes, I think terms like “China Virus” and “Kung Flu” may have had something to do with it. Yes, when the same cop who claimed this shooter was having a “bad day” also posted earlier on social media a picture that said “Coronavirus: Imported from China,” I think this may be part of a larger narrative. When the president of the United States, long before this pandemic, claimed that global warming was a myth created by and for China, I thought...yeah, this is it. America has spoken

Person #2: Trump is no longer the president. Good job, you did it. I’d fact check you on the global warming thing, but it seems we no longer have a Twitter account to check. Biden is the president, and still you claim that this is Trump’s fault? I thought he was on a mission to end racism. I look forward to the coming months of a pandemic cure and tripling the national debt

Person #1: You still don’t get it, do you? Do you know how it feels to hear a coworker ask a Japanese man if he celebrates Pearl Harbor?

Person #2: We’ve already discussed this as well. The two were friends who just so happened to have an inside joke. The Japanese man was fascinated by the imperial navy. That’s it

Person #1: I had a friend ask me if I was even born here

Person #2: And did she stop when you confronted her about it?

Person #1: Yes, but-

Person #2: And as I recall, that’s because you insisted on making the first few racial jokes. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t make jokes about how Asians are good at math, or are all good at piano, and then get so offended when someone states a negative stereotype. Be the change you want to see

Person #1: You’ve complained about historical revisionism?

Person #2: What?

Person #1: I hear it from you. Constantly. You complain that our country’s history is being tarnished because we’re no longer celebrating every aspect of American history. Well here’s a little history for you. Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882. Japanese internment, 1942. A Chinese American was killed and the two white men who did it were sentenced to 0 jail time and a fine of $3000. Do you know when that happened?

Person #2: 1930?

Person #1: 1982. American history is marred by racism. And yes, it freaked me out a little bit when someone acting on Trump’s behalf claimed to be treating Japanese internment as a precedent. And yes, it freaked me out a little bit when the same talking heads who claimed to condemn racism also claimed that Trump was not racist, that he was not discriminating on the basis of religion, that the abhorrent things he said and did were somehow nullified, as if half of the country periodically experienced a shared state of amnesia

Person #2: For the last time, Trump is no longer the president. My issue with this is that you’re not addressing the real problems. Actual hate crime against Asian Americans takes place, and now it’s getting pushed to the sidelines in favor of a shooting that targeted places listed as top locations for sex acts

Person #1: What was your source on that? The Daily Wire?

Person #2: A nationally-recognized public high school is called racist for “having too many Asians,” then effectively disbanded to form a different kind of school...there’s racism everywhere, a seemingly endless pandemic, and a rapidly escalating war that everyone seems to be forgetting about. You want to change the words we use to describe things? Fine. But don’t expect racism to end because you renamed a few dictionary words and then banned a few Dr. Seuss books. You’re not making the problem better, you’re making the problem ten times worse. With your political correctness, your insistence that race be a factor in hiring decisions, and your unceasing reminders of race at every turn, you are making people angrier and fanning the flames of division that you claim to be so passionately against. As we speak, racially divisive videos are circulating on social media. Want to find a common ground? Talk to us about the flag, the country, the rights and freedoms you are afforded by living in the greatest country in the world.

Person #1: We will, when you let us. Talk to me when we’re not afraid to step outside the front door

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violenceinintersectionality · 3 years

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Throughout this semester, a topic that stood out to me was intersectionality. This especially caught my attention when we read Chinelo Okparanta’s novel, “Under the Udala trees”. With this in mind, I will be discussing violence in intersectionality, discrimination, and my personal experience with witnessing violence in intersectionality.

Intersectionality is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “The complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups”. In other words, the effect that discrimination has on certain groups that are especially discriminated against. As a white female, I find myself being discriminated against often. Whether it be because of my looks, age, race, and even financial status. As women, I feel that this is something we all have to deal with at least once in our life. What frustrates me, personally, is that in my opinion, sex and race are two of the most prominent factors in intersectionality and I believe that women of color are the most affected by violence in intersectionality. I read an article during this class that explained how race is a social construct. Reading this article really made me wonder why women of color are treated so differently, especially when I was reading these wonderful works that the women had written. The author of the article, Angela Onwuachi-Willig wrote, “Race is not biological. It is a social construct. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all blacks or all whites. Were race “real” in the genetic sense, racial classifications for individuals would remain constant across boundaries. Yet, a person who could be categorized as black in the United States might be considered white in Brazil or colored in South Africa”. Therefore, in my eyes I see a world that has created a prejudice to certain people because it’s just what they felt they had to do. On top of that, women are also seen as a minority to some. In the Neolithic era, all women were caretakers of the children who also farmed and protected their home while their husbands were out hunting. Women are the reason that we’re all prospering and obviously alive. So I cant help but wonder when this idea that they are somehow less of a person than men came about. Between the idea that women of color are somehow different in their humanity and that women are less important than man, it’s easy to see how ignorant people can be so careless when it comes to equality.

When I wrote my paper analyzing “Under the Udala Trees” I found myself unable to stop my brain from getting my hands to stop typing. The story truly spoke to me in a way that lifted me up but also broke my heart. In the story, the main character must deal with homophobia, religious differences, domestic abuse, and more. This class has truly opened my eyes when I thought they were already open, learning stories about these strong, amazing women who have been to hell and back make’s issues in today’s society all more real. Specifically, the main character, Ijeoma, was forced to suppress her sexuality and when it was discovered that she was in love with a member of the same sex, religion was forced upon her, her friends were killed, and the man who became her husband inflicted physical, mental, and emotional violence in her. While this story may be some words in a book to some people, things like this are happening in real life every day. If I could convince every human on the planet to at least take this class and educate themselves on what women who have dealt with these things in history have been through, I would and there is no doubt in my mind that it would make a huge change in this world. This is where violence in intersectionality comes in. If you take these ideas about women of color being unequal and factor in people who feel they are better than these women, you get the notion that those people feel they can push the women around. When Ijeoma’s husband threatened her with violence, he must have truly thought in that moment that he was so much better than her because of his “status” as a human. When people with violent tendencies get into this mindset, there is absolutely no limit to what they can do. The Institute For Women’s Policy Research stated, “More than four in ten Black women experience physical violence from an intimate partner during their lifetimes. White women, Latinas, and Asian/Pacific Islander women report lower rates. Black women also experience significantly higher rates of psychological abuse—including humiliation, insults, name-calling, and coercive control—than do women overall. Sexual violence affects Black women at high rates. More than 20 percent of Black women are raped during their lifetimes—a higher share than among women overall. Black women face a particularly high risk of being killed at the hands of a man. A 2015 Violence Policy Center study finds that Black women were two and a half times more likely to be murdered by men than their White counterparts. More than nine in ten Black female victims knew their killers”. I made sure to include all of these statistics in length because they need to be acknowledged. Almost everything we’ve read from female authors this semester includes a portion where they mentioned the trials and tribulations they went through to get to the place where they are, regardless of race but still so unbelievably appalling. I can only pray that these statistics are better recognized and improved.

I live in a rural, conservative, small town area filled with closed minded people. I often take a lot of heat for attending High Point, with people calling it a “rich kid liberal school” among other things. However, I couldn’t be happier to announce that I go to High Point because I have the ability to learn from and among some of the most welcoming people I’ve ever met. It’s a different story where I live though. Racism is so prominent and absolutely horrifying. A few years ago, I was dating a guy who most would consider “redneck”. On top of that, I was also in his friend group. We would go for bonfires, mudding, truck shows, the classic country boy stuff. During all of this however, any time we would pass a person of color, the men in that group would quietly refer to them with a derogatory, horrifying name that shocked me every time. At first, I kept quiet and didn’t say anything, which was obviously the wrong thing to do and a big factor in this societal issue. After some time though, I began to speak up and explain why those words were wrong and hurtful, to which they often responded with “When did you become a snowflake libtard?” I hear this question in my head on a daily basis. The group refused to acknowledge people of color and eventually I became aware of an incident where a few boys were cut off by a black woman on the road and followed her home, waited until she was inside, and smashed the woman’s car windows, doors, and ripped up the seats. The boys were laughing when they told me this story and that instance changed my life forever. I broke up with my boyfriend, left the friend group, and called the police immediately and two of the men in that incident served 6 months in jail which personally I think is not enough. To this day I still receive hate messages about it, and I can’t imagine it’s helped their moral values at all. I tell this story because it’s one instance that I’ve witnessed as a white woman, someone who doesn’t experience severe discrimination everyday in much worse ways and it still changed my life. When listening to Chimamanda Ngozi Ndichi’s Ted Talk, she mentioned that many of her peers were shocked by her experiences. They had formulated these ideas in their heads about what her home, Nigeria, was actually like based on things they had seen through the media. The boys I dealt with all those years ago would have looked at her the exact same and most likely in a more negative manner. What she dealt with was an instance of intersectionality being played out and hopefully her peers were able to learn from her as a human not to expect less of someone because of where they come from.

In conclusion, this class has truly opened my eyes to so many issues present in our world. I fully believe that along with me, many others who have taken this class have an entirely different view on women of all genders, races, shapes and sizes. The author’s we’ve learned from this semester have definitely had people question, if not change their actions after hearing their stories, inspiring all of us to make this world a better place.

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roidespd-blog · 5 years

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Chapter Nineteen : FRANCE TODAY

Third and final part of our absolutely tiring saga on France and its LGBTQ+community. As we came to talk about everything in the past tense, from the rise of the Gay Rights Movements, the AIDS epidemic to the Mariage pour Tous, now is the time to explore the present and what’s ahead of us. After that, no more France (Maybe. Probably. Let me fake promise that real quick.)

THE LAST FIVE YEARS

Let’s put it all out there right now. Acts of homophobic nature have been in constant high ever since the massive Mariage pour Tous debate. Although you saw a 38% drop from 2013 to 2014, it went up again in 2015 and never stopped. In the annual report from S0S Homophobie (which “celebrates” its 25 years of existence. Condragulations ?) for 2018, homophobic violence was up 15% from the year before. 1905 people reported various forms of abuse. I was one of them. Twice. Physical attacks against LGBTQ+ people were up 66%, from 131 to 231, with one attack reported per day in the last semester. It now seems like homophobia and intolerance are part of our french DNA.

The internet site Spartacus publishes each year a ranking of the most welcoming LGBTQ+ countries in the world. It judges said countries on fourteen different issues that constitute the basis of the Queer movement (Anti-discrimination Laws. Marriage/Civil Partnerships. Adoption. Transgender Rights. Equal Age of Consent. Religious Influence. HIV Travel Restrictions. Anti-Gay Laws. Homosexuality. Illegality. Pride Banned. Locals’ Hostility. ProsecutionMurders. Death Sentence). In 2018, France was a sixth most welcoming country for LGBTQ+ travelers. A year later, it was ranked seventeenth. It seems that our lower ranking is due to the hostility of our citizens towards LGBTQ+ people. In fact, off the top 24 countries (out of 197), we’re the only one to get a -1 in that category — For the record, the last on the list is Chechnya, with a staggering -5 on the death sentence column.

Insults. Rejection. Ignorance. Defamation. Discrimination. Harassment. Outings. This is French LGBTQ+ people’s daily bread. Is that the price to pay for equal recognition under the law ?

WHAT’S UP WITH THE PEOPLE ?

If interested, I urge you to read the SOS Homophobe report for 2018. It’s a hefty 164 pages but it’s full of precious informations. So. The people. LGBTQ+ populations are still being persecuted, but this time it comes from the people. “Positively”, a trending fact for 2018 was the victims’ courage to speak out and report those attacks either on social media or to the police. One might say that the report seems more alarming because people speak out more, contrary to previous years. Fuck those people. It’s alarming. End of sentence. But if victims go more and more to social media to denounce injustices, social media is still a nest of hateful speeches from the scum of the earth. “La propagande des sodomites en action” posted one homophobe on Facebook. “Dommage qu’on ne soit pas dans les années 30 en Allemagne” said another about a 19 year-old lesbian girl outed on the same platform. “Les gens comme toi, on les brûle, on les viole”.

In November 2018, Bilal Hassani was chosen to represent France at this year’s Eurovision. Hassani is an openly gay genderfuckin singer-songwriter with a youtube channel where he talks about everything and anything. After the announcement, death threats, homophobic and racist tweets were invading his social media. The singer then posted a video talking about it, complaining about the lack of reactivity from Twitter and Facebook when it came to put a stop to it. When one Facebook user sent a warning about an offensive comment on the platform (“l’homosexualité est un péché, il faut l’éradiquer”), it was replied that the comment was not infringing on any of the site’s rules but sure, it could be seen as offensive. The user was only offered the possibility to block the author of the post. Social media is a double-edged sword. It gives you more exposure, better ways to interact with people like you, be celebrated for who you are. It also tries to take you down. And since the law hasn’t totally caught up with the cyber world, most racist, homophobic, sexist websites go through loops to keep their actions free of any consequences.

If only people were only hiding behind a screen. Unfortunately, being a public space has become a dangerous situation for any of the Ls, the Bs, the Gs, especially the Ts or any of the letters of the community. Parks, streets, subways. Anything can happen to us. People are usually attacked by groups of men in premedidated acts.

One of the most recent and choking attacks is dated March 31st in Paris, when 31 year-old Trans woman Julia was insulted, grabbed inappropriately, spit on, slapped and pushed around when she came out of a subway station at République. Videos of the attack went viral within minutes of the event. Julia later said the traumatic experience left her humiliated. The fact that it was filmed brought awareness to those problems and Julia went on to give a few interviews and gave a face to the injustice. That’s one brave woman.

Worst case scenario was the story of Vanessa Campos, a sex worker who was murdered in the night of August 16–17th 2018, defending herself against a group of men trying to bully and steal money from her community. It took weeks before any sorts of sympathies came from the government (it took a “marche blanche” organized by the people). The police was apparently aware of the previous acts of terrors perpetuated by this group of thugs and did nothing. Worst of all, the trash magazine that is Paris Match published pictures of Vanessa’s corpse and exploited her image while tarnishing her identity by using the pronoun “he” to describe the late victim.

One of the worst aspects of that every day reality — and I’m guilty of that as well — could be the trivialization of those acts as “it is what is”. Someone says “Faggot”, I shrug. A dirty look ? Well, I knew what kind of neighborhood I was in. A trans hooker is killed ? Well, she was a prostitute AND she was trans. Do you know why? Because that’s all we hear. From the moment we are conscious of words as children, jokes about faggots are made. Puns about lesbians are openly uttered. Transgender people and Bisexuals are great to make fun of in family dinners. It’s called “casual homophobia” and we’ve all been practicing it. “Fais pas ton enculé”, “Avec ta nouvelle coupe de cheveux, tu fais lesbienne”, “On est pas des pédé, ici”.

The practice of ignorance and the absence of second thoughts on our actions and words are what’s keeping the homophobia alive and well. We live in a different time. Queer people are there. They exist and they are so diverse. Now is the time for cis people to collect those informations, try to understand them and mostly, to course correct their behavior. Do not talk like your parents because that’s what you’ve been hearing all your life and it feels normal. No, it’s not. Not anymore.

WHAT’S UP THE WITH LAW ?

Are we safe ? In the anti-discrimination law department, we’re getting a 2 out of 3 in the Spartacus scale. Not so bad, I guess. In fact, numerous laws and amendments are here to protect/avenge us, in the cases of torture (Art.222–3 5 TER CP), murder (ART.221–4 7CP), Violence (ART.222–10/222–8/222–12/222–13), rape (ART.222–24 9 CP), other kinds of sexual abuse (ART.222–30 6 CP), threats (ART.222–18–1 CP), insults (ART.R.624–4 CP) and so on and so on. Now you are considered discriminated against when you are refused a service, a job, a raise, when people are making your life more difficult IF the reason seems to be your sexual orientation. You can always go to the police but then, you’ll have to prove it. Same goes for the insults. If someone tells you “faggot”, it doesn’t matter if you are one or not, or if the person knows your sexual identity or not, you can sue. Not a “main courante”, but sue his/her/their ass(es). But careful, because then again, you’ll have to prove it. And it’s a long, long process.

Another important problem in 2019. The police. I’m not going to try and tear a new one to them because we all know you can’t take an entire section of people and judge them the same way, but cases of unprofessionalism are everywhere and known. That’s why the datas on LGBTQ+ attacks are somewhat completely false, since most Queer people do not feel heard by the law and their representatives and therefore do not report any wrong doings. In Lille last year, a couple was insulted and physically abused on the street on the premise that they were faggots walking together. They were refused access to the police station as a police officer told them that they “should not have held each other by the arm. It was a provocation”. In Lyon, same story. The police refused to come to the scene of the attack, saying that the attackers were already gone and there was no point to go there. In Dordogne, a police officer said to a victim that he couldn’t file a complaint because “lopette” wasn’t a clear homophobic term. That is not true.

If you ever (and I hope you won’t) have to go through this, know that any derogatory term that are even slightly homophobic gives you the right to register a formal complaint, not a “main courante”. And if the officer is not cooperative, you ask to speak to his superior right away and you don’t leave until you are heard. If possible, go with a supporting loved one. I was lucky enough to run into a very comprehensive and caring police officer and took every single detail of my claim and treated me with respect. He even called me a few weeks later to tell me that the dossier had been sent to the Parquet de Justice and that something will be done. Sweet guy. It does not always work that way. “Vous l’avez pas un peu cherché?” would be the scariest thing to hear at a police station. Seeing officers laugh at the story of you getting chased on the street by a homophobe willing to break your jaw. Having an indifferent person at the other side of your phone call while your boyfriend is bleeding heavily from getting beaten with metal bars.

Also know that if the abuse, in the case of insults, are not accompanied by solid proofs, the case will be easily dismissed by the Justice department. In the best case scenario, there will be a “rappel à la loi” in which the abuser will be auditioned and sermoned, maybe a letter of apology. Then nothing. And if by any chance you go to court, the judge might call the verbal abuse you’ve been the victim of a simple “neighbor’s quarrel”. In 2017, only 25 cases led to conviction in front of a judge. That’s fucked up.

WHAT’S UP WITH RIGHTS ?

In terms of rights, we’ve already established that gay people can legally marry one another, that they are no longer considered mental ill and they can adopt kids (though two parents of the same sex cannot be on the birth certificate of the child). Yeah ?

But one of the big topics of 2018 and still very much alive in 2019 is the implementation of the PMA (Procréation Médicalement Assistée or IVF in english) for single women and lesbian couples. The CCNE (Comité Consultatif National d’Ethique) is favorable to open the practice to all, but the Conseil d’Etat, not so much. Clearly an inequality under the law, it seems that the pushback comes from the public opinion that influences the government. The methods to take that public opinions is, at best, shady, since its based only on forums organized by the CCNE to talk about those issue. 21,000 people participated in those events, filled with anti-PMA and religious subgroups, and also members of the newly-statured political party Manif pour Tous.

I told you we would talk about them again. MPF transitioned into a political party in April of 2015, although weirdly, they never presented any candidates to the European, Presidential or Municipal elections that followed. Apparently, the political status was designed to gain financial grounds and be exempt of many important taxes. Oh, you fuckers.

Anyway, they are very involved with the question of PMA. They recently announced (last week, actually) new actions and manifestations to protest the access of the procedure to single and gay women.

The PMA will be examined in September of this year in front of Parliament, following a statement from Edouard Phillippe, who finally decided to follow one of Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promises of 2017.

Meanwhile, debates on the GPA (Gestation Pour Autrui) will be blocked as the government has no intentions to legalize it either to the straight couples or the gay couples — but I’m guessing putting it on the table for the straight ones would open pandora’s box for the fags. Right ?

Finally, my one big concern come to blood donations and the restrictions we still have to face. Since June 1st, 2016, gay and bi men can give blood under the condition that they practice abstinence for a whole year. That’s kind of an improvement from the fact that before that, they were banned all together. But seriously ? How is our blood more dangerous that someone else’s ? Don’t you run tests before you get blood from someone ? Can’t you impose a universal check up on people ? Are you so fearful of Aids in 2019 ? Are is it the multiple hepatitis that we, gay people, spread around one another like fancy glitter ? Don’t you know by now that those kind of problems are not limited to gay, bi and “men who have sex with men” men ? I said fuck way too much in that article, but FUCK. FUCK THE FUCK OFF YOU FUCKING FUCK. FUUUCK!

Shit. I’m gonna stop here. I’m done. There are so much shit I haven’t talked about yet ! The mutilation of intersex babies (scandalous), the transgender rights (still a pile of shit), the social media trend of outing people (what the living fuck ?), work place homophobia (beware), the racial bias for LGBTQ+ people of color (enough!).

I’m so fucking tired. I can’t take it anymore. France suuuuucks. (deep breath) (focus) (find your center) (take a step back) Better. We are making strides in multiples areas. There’s not denying it. But everything is so fragile. A change of government, a foreign influence and everything can disappear in an instant. I can still get killed on the street because that day, I was wearing pink nail polish and the wrong person saw it. People still wishes that concentration camps were a reality, on the basis of religious morals that have no place in secular societies. I can’t change homophobes. I can only enter into a dialogue when possible and protect myself as much as I can. But here’s my plea to you, Queer people. Yes, the strides are great. We can marry, we can adopt, we can inspire to very different lives from the previous generation of queers. But if you are a cis white gay man, get your head out of your perfectly bleached asshole and defend those who are less fortunate than you.

Our goal as a community should be right now to advance Transgender rights in this country. Our moral obligation is to understand and make people understand Intersex people and put a stop (either inside or outside the community) to the bias against bisexuals. We cannot be strong and thrive if we ignore each other. Be a little less selfish and solidify those way-too-fragile grounds that our ancestors who went through death penalties, epidemics and public humiliations built for us.

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salutethepig · 6 years

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My Dad's pigs

Well, strictly, there weren’t his.

OK, I’d better give you some more background hadn’t I? There’s already some words on my Mum in this blog from earlier, so it seems only right that he also gets a fair crack of the narrative whip in my ongoing pig tales. And I’m actually more than a little surprised that I’ve not got around to talking that much about them — except in passing — until now, some years after the blog was started. So, sorry to you both! I love you; it wasn’t a deliberate slight 🙂

But first, here’s a shot of the (in-)Famous Five. Not sure where this was taken but I’m the one on the right in the back row. By the way, you will note that my pristine discriminate suss vis a vis clothes, hair-cuts and general hard-core posing, has always been with me…

Dad had an interesting, varied life. He’d been a merchant sailor on the Russian Convoys in WWII. He’d graduated from the Royal College of Music as a pianist and, initially at least, taught piano, but after he’d met my Mum (met up again that is; they’d split up and gone their separate ways, until Mum went down to Devon and, so her version goes, “dragged him back to Oxford and away from that other woman”), five children came along in rapid succession and it was soon apparent that the measly pay offered a music teacher wasn’t enough to support us all. Taking a cue from his own Dad, he re-trained as an accountant and started working for firms up & down the country. We moved. A lot. By the first 10 years of my life, I think we’d had 4 or 5 different places we called home.

And a couple of early shots of them attending someone elses’ wedding and, in the second, their own.

[I’ve even recently attempted to map some of the houses — it’s available here as The Bulow Clan homes for any of you stalkers out there — and, using Street-view, took a look at how they’re doing now. It’s quite surprising quite how much hasn’t changed from my memories of them, memories in some cases, from over 40 years ago]

Whilst it meant that we were forever making & then saying good-bye to short-lived friendships (at first those children next door, or just along the road, then later, those at primary school), it also resulted in us becoming a superbly well-tuned and tight-knit fighting unit, skilled at packing up one day and then efficiently moving these 7 people, their dog and their furniture to a new location, the very next day. I think I said before that my Mum could easily have organised the Normandy landings — her grasp of logistics was that good. We were the civvie equivalent of the Royal Engineers, moving men, vehicles & supplies through a devastated wasteland.

Here’s a later retirement shot — from the back garden in their nice, newly built, modern house. Finally, my Mum got to have a house that she didn’t have to look after all the time. Didn’t stop her still doing so, mind you…

And then, just like that, Dad gave up the life of an accountant and became a pig farmer. Well, in my memory, it was like that. In all likelihood, it took probably a few weeks or months — at least — to convince my Mum that this wasn’t the most insane idea he’d ever had. Dad was bright (and funny and kind), but sometimes you wouldn’t know it. He also could (and did) drink. And that was a problem at times. I recall being driven by him (in retrospect, a very pissed him) at high-speed around Bournemouth, where we were visiting his parents and after he’d had a row with Mum. He was often pretty useless with money; rather surprising for an accountant and I recall Mum keeping separate little pots for each bill and, once or twice we kids and Mum had to hide silently under the bed and pretend that we weren’t in, when the milkman (or similar dunned debtor) came a’ knockin’.

But become a pig farmer he did. There were, I’m sure, some sharply hissed, unkind words from behind the closed bedroom door or from the front-room, as they discussed it, but again, in my memory, we just effortlessly and calmly segued into our new lives on farms. Dad had always loved pigs, working with them in Devon, so, whilst an unexpected change of tack — at least to us — maybe not a total bombshell for my Mum. Who knows now? But there we were. Living in farm cottages as Dad never owned his own farm; he was always a tenant farmer. But one big advantage of this was that the job came complete with a large house. I’m sure the wages were pretty crap but at least they didn’t have to find rent money and were able to have separate bed-rooms for (most) of us!

Here’s the place at Kingsdown, in Kent. We moved here when I was just 11, from the previous farm in Essex. This was the last one he worked at and it specialised in careful, highly skilled breeding programmes. Now. this pristine, white house is divided into two properties but when we were there, it was all ours. Complete with nests of rats under the garden shed. An endless source of fun for us and the family and farm dogs. Corn fields behind. Bluebell woods on the horizon. And an old Royal Marine training ground further along the farm road — dangerous as all hell, full of collapsing tunnels, hidden drops and unstable sandy banks, so therefore irresistible to us.

And here, the farm buildings that housed the pigs, now looking almost deserted (and a likely asbestos health & safety nightmare), but these were where Dad worked, where we all ‘helped’ him and, from the concrete jetties, where the animals were loaded and off-loaded. The grain store and chute, at the back, was another treasure trove of rats for hunting. Oh, and it also had a large oil-drum sized tub of black molasses given to the pigs to supplement their diet. Scooping a fistful out when no one was looking, was a treat for all of us kids.

And so, as I said therefore, not his pigs. But as far as the porkers and we were concerned, they may as well have been. He loved them. He cared for them. He bedded them down when they were ill, supervised their births, farrowing, feeding, growth and deaths. As a breeding experimental site, we had quite tight access controls (for that time); and the occasional foot & mouth outbreaks nearby meant we often went into lock-down and once — luckily only the once — we had to watch as all the animals there had to be killed and burnt. An horrific sight, sounds and a smell that lingered in the air and clothes and even the hedgerows for days afterward. A lot of us cried that day. Including my Dad.

An earlier farm was also the cause of more than one or two nightmares for me. The pig manure was swept into huge underground pits (using what were, in effect, giant rubberised Squeegee mops) from where it was rather (to me) ingeniously pumped out, through a network of pipes either onto the nearby fields or into tankers for disposal elsewhere. Leaning over the manhole covers, seeing the churning, stinking dark, seething mass below, made me wake screaming in the night as I ‘watched’ Dad slip into it and get sucked away.

Gentle reader? Of course, it never happened. For which I for one am profoundly grateful. He went on to live for another 30 years or so.

But “what about the pigs”, I hear you cry? “Tell us more about them”?

Despite (or rather because of) the intensive breeding attempts, these weren’t anything special — certainly not rare breed types, just pink & large — except in their ability to grow quickly to weight, to be low in fat, to produce large litters. You know, the same as everyone else, the same as almost the entire rest of the world was looking for. We (Dad and his fellow pig-herds) were ‘guilty’ of the crimes I’ve previously excoriated the English farmer for. I suppose we could claim that this was a different time and that we “knew no better”, and in all honesty, I think that’s pretty much the case. I don’t recall anyone then extolling the benefits of the old style pigs — hardier, tastier, able to live outside — whilst calling for them to be retained. The dash for profit was headlong and Dad’s employers weren’t immune to that siren call. So these ones weren’t kept outside; they lived in inside sties. The floors were concrete (although they had huge quantities of fresh straw changed twice daily to move around on, root round in, dig for their food in). Food was generally high-energy pellets. They got given some fruit on occasions. But precisely because this was a breeding farm and the owner was paranoid about infections or diseases from outside, pigs weren’t allowed the scraps and swill from school canteens that we saw used on the earlier farms.

Ideal? No. Unfeeling? Yes, pretty much I guess. The sows had large-ish farrowing crates even then, so the natural bonding that should occur was less likely to happen. We docked tails. We de-tusked the boars. They didn’t get to run around outside, to root, to dig, to play in the way that this most sociable of animals needs to. And whilst I never saw anyone treating them cruelly or unkindly, still, this was a processing operation. I’m not happy looking back at the lives these animals led because of us. I’m unsure how to end this piece. For the time and place, they had a better life than some and Dad was uniformly caring of them. I suppose that’s the best I can say. Somehow though, it doesn’t seem a fitting epitaph for all the work and care and effort that he put into his animals. We never really spoke about this or how welfare for animals had changed when we’d both got older. And I regret that. And I miss him. Of course. But I think he’d have approved of my coming back to write about these lovely creatures. Thanks Bernie. For everything.

Oh, and one last thing? As far as I know, we’re not related to this branch of the extended Bulow Clan. We visited there whilst living in Florida. A beautiful place, calm, green, verdant. And yet. And yet. The stench of slavery — like burning pork — doesn’t wash away, even in the torrential Florida rains…

In 1821, Major Charles Wilhelm Bulow acquired 4,675 acres of wilderness bordering a tidal creek that would later bear his name. Using slave labor, he cleared 2,200 acres and planted sugar cane, cotton, rice and indigo. Major Bulow died in 1823, leaving the newly established plantation to his seventeen year old son, John Joachim Bulow.

After completing his education in Paris, John Bulow returned to the Territory of Florida to manage the plantation. Young Bulow proved to be very capable. John James Audubon, the famous naturalist, was a guest at the plantation during Christmas week 1831. In a letter to a patron, Audubon wrote:

“Mr. J.J. Bulow, a rich planter, at whose home myself and party have been for a whole week under the most hospitable and welcome treatment is now erecting some extensive buildings for a sugar house.” Bulowville, Florida December 31, 1831.

Bulow’s sugar mill, constructed of local “coquina” rock, was the largest mill in East Florida. At the boat slips, flatboats were loaded with barrels of raw sugar and molasses and floated down Bulow Creek to be shipped north. This frontier industry came to an abrupt end at the outbreak of the Second Seminole War. In January 1836, a band of raiding Seminole Indians, resisting removal to the West, looted and burned the plantation. It would never recover. Bulow returned to Paris where he died the same year.

Today, the coquina walls and chimneys of the sugar mill remain standing as a monument to the rise and fall of the sugar plantations of East Florida.

My Dad’s pigs was originally published on Salute The Pig

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myviewoftheuniverse · 4 years

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Homophobia

“the dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people. “ I’ve come to know many gay people over the years. I worked with over 5,000 gay men and women in the airline industry. I found many of them nice. Some have sticky attitudes but that’s not unlike the general population. There’s always someone that has a stick up their ass for one reason or another.

I’m not afraid of gay people. I normally always feel comfortable and at ease. But I don’t seem to get along with the dikes? If that word offends you, you can replace that word with whatever the proper terminology is. (and if you don’t believe in Free speech you should stop reading now. Even though you’re going to use your Free speech rights to bash me. But that’s ok I believe you have that right and I have no problem with words. My problem lies with guns, knives and baseball bats but that’s another topic) The women who hate men but want to look like men. That word I used above. I don’t know how else to describe them. She-hes? She-men? I honestly don’t know what the latest terminology is. You seem to make up new terms on a daily basis. Hard to keep up.

But it’s not that I don’t like them. I always approach with a smile, but as soon as they see me they give me that “I’ll kill you right now look” and I didn’t even say anything. I didn’t give them the evil eye or a grin or a wince. I just smiled and said hello. Being I’ve now noticed this behavior for over a decade now, I’m leaving it to “they have a problem with good looking guys that smile.” I’ll just leave that there.

I don’t discriminate against anyone. I never have. I was always the idiot that tried to talk to everyone. I spoke to every single person in my high school class, every single person. But today I hear stories from friends that say they never spoke to at least 30% of the high school class. It never occurred to me that that was how the world works. My wife says she probably only spoke to 25% of her class. That blows me away. I was and always am, interested in hearing different stories and perspectives from people, anyone.

I’ve hung out with homeless people and multi-millionaires. I’ve been the only white guy in a room full of black people. I’ve been the only white guy in a room full of Latinos. I’ve been the only white guy in a room full of women. I’ve been the only white guy in a room full of gay people. My greenness allowed me not to be afraid in any of those rooms. I’ve met people from 42 states and more than 12 countries. I love Asian people. Not as high strung as Americans. I like honest people. I don’t like haters. Democrats are haters, I would never trust a Democrat with my bicycle. They just seem to randomly hate people for absolutely anything. I’m not particularly fond of Republicans either, they carry guns. I like those in between people that are aware of the two sides, and they choose to not take a side like myself. We enjoy watching from the sidelines, and we can criticize both sides from the outside.

I’ve had many gay people try to convert me when I worked at the airport. But when they get a bit too aggressive that’s when I prefer they back away. When it’s all fun and games I’m ok. But when you start touching me, I find that inappropriate. I will say this to conclude. I AM AFRAID OF HAVING A DICK SHOVED IN MY ASS. (and I know a large number of women, if not a few billion are also afraid of the same thing) So if that makes me homophobic then I apologize.

I love all of you nuts. Stay safe.

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apsbicepstraining · 7 years

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More than ‘mom-in-chief’: Michelle Obama bows out as dynamic first lady

Obamas commitment to childrens health and education remained steadfast in the past eight years as she transformed into an impassioned political figure

With rends in her sees and her articulation cracking with spirit, the self-declared mom-in-chief stepped off the public stage on Friday with her final communication as first lady, advising young Americans to believe in the strength of hope.

Michelle Obama, who began her White House times engaging the generally soft themes that have often limited the brides of chairmen, ended with a clarion call for diversification and vowing to make it her lifes work to help disadvantaged children get to college, a personal mission that has its roots in her own Chicago childhood.

In a profoundly psychological thinking on what lies ahead for the US in the era of President Donald Trump, she transported a clear message to young people to rise above discord, exasperation and bigotry , no matter what they look like, their background or religion.

My final meaning to young people as first lady is simple-minded. I miss our young people to know that they matter, that they belong … Dont be afraid, be focused. Be measured. Be hopeful. Be empowered. Entitle yourself with a good education … then build a country worthy of your boundless promise.

The sign-off in the East Room of the White House ended with her being engulfed in hugs from academy counsellors from across the US whom she celebrated for the crucial support they be provided to students in their darkest moments.

It was also a moment to tag the eight-year pilgrimage she has made to become an impassioned political figure in her own privilege. She has never stood for role, but there were eras in the final weeks of the US election campaign when it seemed possible that she could run for chairperson and win.

She had taken the fight to Donald Trump, telling a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire that his boasts about sexually assaulting maidens had shaken her to her core. This is not ordinary. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is unbearable, she said in a speech which uncovered a toughness and an ability to connect with an gathering to rival her “husbands ” gifts.

Speaking in Philadelphia from the same programme as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, she emerged as the real virtuoso of the Democratic assembly, moving the gathering to snaps as she spoke about the possibility of setting up the first girl chairwoman, and her own familys outing from slavery to the White House.

Drawing powerfully on her own family history her great-great-grandfather lived as a slave she spoke of the histories of generations of people who experienced the flog of servitude, the reproach of servitude, the bite of discrimination, but who hindered on endeavour and hoping and doing what are required to be said and done that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their hounds on the White House lawn.

Ever since Martha Washington deplored that she felt like a commonwealth captive, the role of the first lady “ve always been” seen as a holding one, where gentility comes firstly and controversy is better avoided.

And Michelle Obamas White House times inaugurated commonly as a self-styled mom-in-chief, with two daughters aged 10 and seven, advocating a healthy-living agenda.

She altered a far area of the White House floors into a vegetable plot and accompanied children from some of Washingtons poorest schools to help her bush broccoli. She too fascinating with her flippant willingness to droop convention joining in with an Evolution of Mom Dancingroutine on the talkshow Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, to promote her Lets Move fitness push and later, getting in the fare bench for Carpool Karaoke with James Corden to promote her Let Girls Learn global education campaign.

Michelle Obama acceded to by Washington DC school children as they glean the White House Kitchen Garden. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/ AP

If some felt disappointed by the gentle topics she adopted initially, it became clear there was a golden yarn moving through her efforts as she began to focus on more substantial a matter that manifested her own childhood growing up in Chicago.

She connected the discussions on artillery brutality after the death in 2013 of Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teenager who was killed by a stray missile periods after she returned home from taking part in the presidents induction fetes with her high school marching band.

Speaking later that year in Chicago, Obama said her operation and her anger lay in ensuring the health and improvement and success of young people in this city.

Describing her own childhood, she said: Back then, our parents knew that if they loved and encouraged us, if they deterred us off the street and out of bother, then united be OK. They knew that if they did everything right, wed have a chance.

But today, for too many households and children in this city, thats plainly no longer the lawsuit. Today, too many boys in this city are living just a few stops, sometimes even just a few blockages, from lustrous skyscrapers and leafy commons and world-class museums and universities, yet all of that might as well be in a different government, even in a different continent.

Because instead of spending their days enjoying the abundance of riches this city has to offer, they are downed with watching their backs. Theyre afraid to walk alone, because they might get jumped. Theyre afraid to walk in groups, because that is likely to identify them as part of a mob and introduce them at risk.

She said: Hadiyas family did everything right, but she still didnt have a chance. And that floor the story of Hadiyas life and death we read that narration day in day out, month after month, year after year in this city and around this country.

The Reach Higher initiative she has endorse aims to invigorate every student to carry on past high school building on the health start she promoted, by creating conditions for girls to get to college, and then find foundation on campus be used to help succeed.

She was still Michelle Robinson, daughter of a secretary and a spout craftsman at a Chicago water company, when her schoolteachers told her that she was aiming too high by setting her spates on Princeton, the Ivy League university. But she made it, and was just going Harvard Law School very, although as she said years thereafter: I still hear that disbelieve ringing in my head.

Michelle Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton during her presidential lope. Image: Chuck Burton/ AP

The commencement addresses she has delivered each year at college graduation ceremonies during her era at the White House have experienced her turn to her own personal skirmishes, including the death of her father, to oblige home the message that education is the single biggest move of success for young person. She told Virginia Tech students: I came to realize that best available space in order to be allowed to reputation my papas life was by how I lived my own life. I realized that the best way to fill the hole he had left was to do for other young person what he had done for me. So I left that fancy principle conglomerate, and I wound up eventually running a nonprofit organization that studied young people for jobs in public service.

She has taken her aspirational word to young girls in various regions of the world including students from an inner-city school in London, some of whom extended with her on a fact-finding mission to Oxford University and were later accredited to participate in the White House. We are counting on you, we are counting on every single one of you to be the best that you can be, she told their school meeting.

If Barack Obamas presidential bequest hangs in the balance with the commencement of the Trump administration, it is possible that as a family, the Obamas have achieved something of lasting meaning which cannot be erased. They have shown young African Americans that they extremely can have ambition and success.

Rictor Craig was a school principal at Friendship Woodbridge elementary and middle school in one of the poorest wards of Washington when some of his intellectuals were invited to help Michelle Obama plant her White House kitchen garden in 2014.

Now director of academics at the nine institutions of Friendship Woodbridge, he said the visit and the simple-minded happening that the Obamas acquired it to the White House had a transformative accomplish on pupils.

Ultimately it allowed my kids to see that they have a possibility, that people who look like them, that they are able to relate to, can one day aspire to get into the White House.

Seeing Michelle Obama and the first family in the White House actually motivated our academics because they know that both the mothers are college trained, they know that Malia and Sasha are going to college and these are things that they get to see on a daily basis, that they can then liken to their own fib. Its huge.

Michelle Obama it seems, never will run for power. If I were interested in it, Id say it, she told Oprah Winfrey in her large-scale exit interrogation last month. People dont genuinely understand how hard this is. And its not something that you cavalierly just sort of ask a family to do again.

But as she tried in vain to wave away her tears at the end of her last-place pronunciation, she made clear that his efforts to get children a better start and a great education will remain her lifes production. I will be with you, springing for you for the rest of my life.

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