Why I Care About Slavery

Here in Cleveland, three women who have been missing for 10 years and presumed dead have been found alive. A man kidnapped them a decade ago and has held them prisoner for all of these years. Shackled, tortured, raped, impregnated and forced to assist the man to give abortions to the unlucky one who was pregnant. They were all pregnant more than once. One young woman has a daughter that he did not abort and who now six years old. What were that little girl’s first six years of life like? We won’t know, however she will have to live with the nightmares for the rest of her life. The three young women, now in their 20′s, have to restart their lives. iPads, Facebook, MySpace, texting and a million other common place activities which we all use in 2013 must be learned. Relationships with families must be renewed. Trust in the people around them must be attempted. I think this will be a huge issue. This is what has pushed me into studying about trafficking and slavery.

We can’t just look away because it is unpleasant. We have to see it, grasp the meaning of this evil and balance it with beauty so we can face the fact that we might know some who is currently or had once been part of the culture of slavery.

We can save lives by looking around us and questioning what is happening.

Things that pull people into slavery are varied. Globally women are second class citizens. Many girls and women are not able to receive the education that is needed to obtain a good paying job. We all realize that flipping burgers at McDonald’s is just not a job that will enable people to have a living wage.

Globally, men, boys, girls,and women who exist in slavery are from all socioeconomic backgrounds. They come from every race, country and religion. They are all lost to us and to the world unless we can stop the buying and selling of human beings in this world.

Besides kids being sold as soldiers, they are also sold into the sex trade. The demand makes a huge supply necessary. Sweatshops around the world use women and children to increase the profit margin on the clothes they make. Cheap labor is needed around the world in agricultural regions. The thing about some of these areas is that paying a living wage increases the price people pay in the markets.

How to stop traffeting

Don’t look away, care, and help

Global unrest  and abject poverty lead to refugees who have to leave their homes and possessions. They have no roof or food or medication. They do have desperation and hopelessness. People are often deceived about what they will have if they leave and go to another country. They are often offered education and jobs which never happen. You can help.  If someone complains about Force, Fraud, or Coersion, call 911. If a person is 18 or younger, they need only ask for assistance under the  Trafficking Victims Protection laws because they are completely protected by law. (For more information, visit the Department of State’s website on trafficking laws at http://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/).

Slavery did not end with President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. It is happening in 2013 also.

 

Slavery in 2013

Yes, there is slavery in America as well as in most other countries in the world. Why would people buy and sell other human beings? Greed, profit, gender discrimination, cheap labor force are some of the reasons.

In some parts of our country and other countries, a girl is more likely to be raped than to learn how to read. Every year, 60 million girls are sexually assaulted at or on their way to school. There is an estimated 800,000 people trafficked across national borders annually. Eighty per cent are girls and women.

Here in America, on any day in any month,  someone may be sold into slavery.  100,000 to 300,000 people are trafficked annually. 83 % are being sold for sexual work. It is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world.

Public Broadcasting Stats

Worldwide, most trafficked persons are Asians. Up to 800,000 people, men, women, boys and girls are Trafficked across international borders. They account for up to 32 billion dollars in revenue. Most trafficking has to do with labor, including sexual labor, and children being sold to armies as soldiers. Can you imagine knowing that every day for the rest of your life, you will work for someone who oppresses human beings? You will never see a penny of the fruits of your labor, and they can do with you whatever they wish, including raping  you or sending you to kill or die in a battle you will never live long enough to understand.

Help stop trafficking — learn more at www.enditmovement.com

Slavery is still real

You Know Someone Who Has Been Abused

Children Learn What They Live

One in every four women will experience violence in her lifetime 85% of DV victims are women. An estimated 1.3 million women will be abused each year. Abuse is a generational thing that children learn because they see it happen.

Stop the Violence

Almost one third of female homicide victims that are reported in police reports are killed trying to get out of a battering relationship with an intimate partner. In 70 % to 80% of homicide victims were battered by their domestic partner prior to their demise. Less than one fifth of victims who report injuries seek,medical help.

Witnessing abuse between intimate partners is the strongest risk factor to children growing up to be a victim or a batterer. 30% to 60% of perpetrators also abuse the children in the home. Forced sexual assault is also abuse. It is illegal to rape your wife and a person could go to prison. Marriage doesn’t mean you own a person. They still own their own body and you may or perhaps not be able to use it.

There is no specific time you can expect abuse to start.

The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds 5.8 billion dollars a year. Victims of intimate partner abuse lost almost 8 million days of work because of the violence perpetuated against them. This loss is equivalent to 32,000 full-time jobs. Another 4.1 billion dollars is for medical care of the victim. There are 16,800 homicides each year. More victims are murdered trying to leave an abusive relationship that at any other time during it. This is why women often go back over and over again.

Don’t teach your children to be victims or batterers.

Domestic violence  is one of the most underreported crimes. Now, cities like Norristown are penalizing the victim for calling the police, (please see previous blog), Who wants to be homeless or have their children being homeless? Only approximately one fourth of physical assaults and sexual assaults are reported. States differ on the type of relationship that qualifies under domestic violence laws.

For more information or to get help, call:

THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE 1-800-799-7233

THE NATIONAL TEEN DATING ABUSE HOTLINE 1-866-331-9474

Stop the Violence

Women’s Rights in the Home

Don’t let DV into your house

 

Domestic Violence and the War on Women is continuing. There are some Federal laws which protect women and some are state laws. Evidence, sentencing, police involvement can differ from state to state. In Pennsylvania, for instance there are firm laws to protect the victim. However, in Norristown, Pa. victims are penalized for calling the police for help.

Yes, I said for asking for protection, they are breaking the law.

 

The cycle of violence

 

6% of victims are men

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are three strikes in Norristown, Pa.  If you are abused and call for help three times. No matter how serious your abuse is. The police will send your landlord or mortgage holder a letter asking them to throw you out due to the Three Strikes Rule. Nope, you didn’t misunderstand. I call it, let’s jump on the victim whether female or male. Let us increase the suffering. The city ordinance specifically includes “domestic disturbances” as behavior that gets victims thrown out of their homes.

 

A woman recently feared losing her home so much that even when her abuser attacked her with a brick, she was too afraid to make a call to the police. He later stabbed her neck and she was still to frightened of being homeless to call. He would get the house. After a housing court refused to order an eviction, the ACLU stepped in to protect the victim. The city backed off. The city of Norristown does encourage the battering of its citizens with this type of laws.

 

Norristown is not the only city in the country have passed “nuisance ordinances” or crime.  Milwaukee’s Domestic Nuisance Ordance showed violence was the third most common reason that police citation. This is far above drug crimes, property damage, or trespassing.  Women of color in our country suffer the most from these bizzare citations.

 

My suggestion is to go to your local police department and ask what the laws are where you live. If there are these type of laws, get involved. Women working together can accomplish anything they put their minds to. So remember: YOU CAN’T BEAT A WOMAN.

Stop Domestic Violence

Purple is the color that represents Domestic Violence

A tale from Korea

Galveston Beach, Galveston Island, Tx; Photo by Barbara Mattio Of a former Korean vet

 

 

Today, our President gave a medal to Chaplin Kapaun, posthumously. This man was a hero in my eyes.  He gallantly saved lives and kept up the spirits of the men who were captured. He gave them hope and reinforced their faiths. He really irritated their Korean captors who had the odious job of breaking the American men.

A decision was made to put him in a death block. It was a black, windowless square building where there was no plumbing, food or fluids. As the guards took him away, he blessed and forgave them, thus providing inspiration and hope for the captors and the captees.

Some of the soldiers he served with are still alive and were at the ceremony today at the White House. Each one is a brave and courageous man by the fact that they survived.

Heroes like Chaplain Kapaun do exist and are sorely needed in our world filled with pain, anger, hatred, judgement, and the urge to hurt others. This is the perfect time to remember that our society needs women and men to look up to.  We need men and women to step up and speak out. Role models, mentors, and heroes will help to change our world. Their job would be to inspire, support, work hard and be educated; or as educated as each of us can be. We need to teach what we preach and we need to teach people how to think – not what to think, but how to think for themselves. It is important to think for ourselves and not to accept every bit  of information that is fed to us.

We each need to do some soul searching. Are we doing enough? Should be doing more? I think I just might do more myself after my ankle heals.

I can dream, I can fly and I love everyone on this planet.

Rape Culture

Normally I would never post this video but our society is condoning rape. I pulled this off of YouTube and it sickened me. As I have said so many times, rape has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with power and control. The young men in this video are the basest of human beings. This is important to me because it speaks to The War Against Women and it happened here in Ohio, the state where I now live.

The boys came from middle class families and had good prospects for their futures. Because of the choice they made, they aren’t even descent enough human beings to pick up garbage. This is not an isolated crime, it happens all the time in all countries around the world. A woman is not a piece of property to be used and discarded. It is clear in the video that no one taught this concept to these boys. Why? Perhaps the parents feel women are to be owned. Perhaps there  is violence in their homes.

In this particular rape case are fragments of the thinking behind all of the rape cases here and around the world that it is just sex and not a crime. A woman isn’t raped because she is a whore. She is raped because, even in 2013, women are considered property. The fact that the town tried to protect the boys who committed this horrible crime is enough to make me throw up. There isn’t privilege  for the high school jocks, or professional sports figures. They don’t get to rape a woman without paying a heavy price. If a guy rapes a woman, his future needs to be and will be gone.

Women who are raped don’t just get up and go on with life. They feel degraded and dirty. Some shower over and over because they no longer feel clean. This is something I can understand. Women who are raped are victims and don’t need to be revictimized by the media, friends, the judicial system, or their own families. They need support and counseling.

It is vital that their names are not put into the media. This case violated this concept that we worked on in the 70′s and 80′s. Previous sexual experience is also not allowed into court testimony. If a woman has had consensual sex and later is raped, the previous experience does not mean she can be raped without consequence. We keep going in circles about women’s issues.  In 2013, we are once again in a war against women.

Now, The National Organization for Women.
stopping abuse and rape.

There is only one reason for rape and it is a crime.

The Separation of Church and State

Separation of Church and State

I am wondering if any of you have been gnashing your teeth, and shout at the TV whenever you watch the news. There are a lot of negative issues. For instance, the United States now educater fewer scientists each year, we import more high-tech products, many Americans think that the answer for teen pregnancy is not education on birth control and safe sex, but abstinance. Don’t get me wrong I, in theory, believe that abstinance should be taught but there is a gap between theory and reality. Teens with raging hormones don’t always understand what parents and schools are trying to tell them.

My biggest frustration, however, is the people who are talking and insisting on the idea that this country was formed as a Christian Country. So, I am going to explain what is really has happened.

” Those who won our independence believed…that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people,,,that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope, and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government…Fear cannot justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.”  ——by Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis.

Thomas Jefferson on separation of church and state

God is claimed by both sides in a war, and the Bible is used to defend the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, slavery, lynching, apartheid, racism, povery, violence against women, homophobia and a score of other human tragedies. The three largest Christian-right organizations call for “Crusaders” to pray that certain U.S. Supreme Court justices whose voting records they dislike will die. Televangelist Pat Robertson blames talk show host, Ellen Deganeres for the disaster of  Hurricane Katrina. He also intimidated that God had sent the Hurricane to punish people. Robertson also declares that the attack on America on 9-11, was also God punishing America.

Did you know?

The Air Force Academy, has developed a “strident evangelicalism”. There have been fifty-five complaints of religious discrimination filed in the past few years. The Academy has also become a test tube of sexual harrassment. Female cadets filed charges that were ignored or overlooked. Faith-based prisons are apparently making money by reaping in the profits of spreading the Gospel to convicts. As taxpayers, we pay for proselytizing prisons without ever giving permission or voting for our money to be used in this manner. Inmates receive special priveleges if they follow all-day, all-week, Christian agendas. Prision ministries have as much as $46 million budgets.

Kennedy quote re: Church and State

The Constitution of the United States of America does not contain even one reference to a diety – on purpose. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the Founding Fathers of our country and he said, the Founding Fathers were a hodgepodge of freethinkers, Deists, agnostics, Christians, and Freemansons. Above all they were radicals.

“Question with boldness even the existence of a god.”  —Thomas Jefferson

“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind.”  –James Madison

“I doubt of Revelation itself.”  –Benjamin Franklin

” My own mind is my church” –Thomas Paine

George W. Bush added, “so help me God.” to his presidential oath of office.

Pat Robertson claims that “In God We Trust” was on our currency and “Under God” was the U.S. motto from 1776.  These were not added until 1950.

John Adams  declared, ” The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1789, ” No society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living genetation.”

We now take it for granted that churches, temples, mosques, and other religious institutions are tax exempt-but it was not always that way, nor was it the intent of the Founders. This policy was the fruit of a religious campaign.

So was “In God We Trust” getting stamped onto our coinage and the insertion of ” Under God” in our Pledge of Allegiance. The religious movement that we are living in is different. This time is the blatant political mobilization of extreme right religious forces, which seek to change the Constitutional mandate to keep Church and State separated.  This mandate is why the Founding Fathers called their new country a Republic, not a Theocracy.

Ronald Reagan’s quote

I would like to be clear about one thing in this blog. I believe the Fathers built a wall between Church and State. I also believe in the Divinity of the Universe. I believe it dwells within each of us and all of life around us. The One wants us to love, support, accept, care for each other and all living things including our planet. He/she/It does not a government run. So think about what is really happening right now in our country.

 

Some excerpts taken from Fighting Words, by Robin Morgan

You’re Fired!

Introducing our Congress

Well, right here in the United States of America, land of the people, for the people, and by the people, we have experienced a slap across our collective faces. Our Congress is made up of men and women who have been duly elected to the House and Senate to protect and ensure our best interests as we see them.

The elected officials we put into office have walked out. They just got up and all went back to their homes. Congress is now closed. “Gone Fishing”.I don’t know about any of you but I am highly annoyed.

Our Founding Fathers did not make a Congress that would run away when things got tough.

When was the last time you have ever heard of anyone just walking away from their jobs and not performing their job descriptions? Have you ever done that and kept your job? Well this is what the man and women we elected to the House and Senate have done.

Someone in the press corps asked President Obama why he didn’t stop them and he said.  he is not a distator, but a President. He couldn’t have the Secret Service block the doors.

Our Congress has hit a new low. They are speaking with their actions, which is stronger and truer than any words that might fall out of their selfish mouths.

I am disgusted with them and I feel we need to all speak up and let Congress know and each state has their House Representatives and Senators. Tell them to get off their bottoms and to get back to work. We pay their salaries and we are not happy. This may not be a major election year, but some Congressmen and Senators will be up for re-election in 2114.  2116 is coming and if they can not handle performing their job descriptions, they we will find true patriots and selfless Americans who will.

Grow up Congress. You are being paid big salaries, have the best health care in the country and your children go to school on our dime, while we have to struggle to put our children and grandchildren through college. You disgust me and should be ashamed of yourselves.

Women are not Legally Equal

Justice for Women

This is the year to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed. Congress needs to do much more to stop the War on Women. This is a very important issue.

The Amendment is divided into three sections and I will lay them out. Everyone needs to understand this Ammendment and to push Congress to quit playing games and roll up their sleeves and go to work for the American Woman.

Many are questioning the importance of the ERA, but here are some reasons for women and men to support the passage of the Amendment in 2013. I hope this might clear up questions people might have and make it possible to see why this Amendment is important actually vital in our country.

Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce by appropiate legislation, the provisions of this article.
This Amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
Women are not a proteted class.I am going to discuss some ways this Amendment will benefit women.

Say yes to the ERA

First of all, the Amendment will protect women in the workplace. If a woman finds that her male coworker is earning more money and the woman sues the company, the Amendment will be cited and the company will be forced to give a reason why the woman is earning less. If there is no reason besides gender, the Constitution will protect her.

Another area where this Amendment will defend women is the charge of rape. If there is a rape and the woman presses charges and it goes to court the Constitution can prevent the woman from being victimized again. Rape is not a sexual act. It is all about power and control. Eighty year old women have been raped. Men use rape to control the woman.

So In court, if the defense attorney brings up that she has had alcohol or was wearing a short skirt or went out on a date with a man, the Constitution will protect the woman from gender discrimination. Men are not blamed when they are  victimized  if they have had a drink or if they look sexy.

Insurance companies discriminate on gender to determine how much a person’s premium will be. The Amendment will protect women from having to pay higher premium rates.  A Constitutional Amendment will ensure equal treatment and it is necessary to protect women’s rights for all time.

Women are now able to serve in the military if they wish. Unfortunately, many have been raped (power and control). The officers have been turning their heads and allowing men to get away with this horrible act. This is gender bias.
Women can now be drafted into the military and they must be treated the same as their male counterparts.

The organization UniteWoman.org is leading the effort to get this Amendment passed by Congress. A White House petition has recently received the number of signatures to be addressed by President Obama. Another organization working towards the huge job of getting this Amendment passed is NOW.  NOW stands for the National Organization of Women. It has been working for decades to promote equality for women. I have been a member for many years. Most cities have a branch of  NOW and like Unite Women, they always need volunteers. Whatever you feel comfortable doing would be deeply appreciated.

With the GOP working so hard to stop legal equality for women, we all need to pull together and make sure yhat not only we are protected but also the younger women coming up behind us .Our daughters and granddaughters will benefit as well as all of us. Feminist men are also needed in the effort to stop gender discrimination.

Just What Were the Founding Fathers Intending in This New Republic

Portraits of our Founding Fathers

The has been a lot of conversation and debate lately about our founding fathers. The heroic revolutionaries who deciced that these colonies must break away from England and become a Republic and there had to be freedom here.  These men were very different from those who are in government today. They were actually willing, may I go so far as to say, they looked forward to fighting and gaining our independence. They were a brave and  very diverse group of men.

America was imagined and created by men who were liberals and revolutionaries.

The original words of our founding fathers found in the Constitution, Bill of Rights show us a picture of men who were radicals for their day. The entire idea of what they wanted to create here was liberal and so very radical. The founders were a kind of motley crew. I say this with no disrespect meant. They were a group of rather unlikely idealists. They also were imperfect. Some were slave holders, Paine wrote anti-slavery pamphlets and Benjamin Franklin organized the first anti-slavery societies.

Women were never on their radar, even after the famous letter Abigail Adam’s wrote to her husband John Adams. “If particular care and attention are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound to obey any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”  Despite Abiagail Adam’s efforts,  our rights weren’t up for discussion.

The Founding Fathers were not uniformly Christian, they were freethinkers, agnostics, atheists, Christians, Freemasons, and Deists. A Deist professes belief in as-yet-unknown powers evinced in the natural, scientifically observed universe. But whether they were religious or not, they fought for a secular state and for freedom of belief.

The question of slavery was the only big issue they were unable to find a solution for. However, it ended up being left out of the Constitution and they agreed to leave it to later generations to solve this divisive problem. So, as you know, Lincoln was the man who picked up the gauntlet and freed the slaves and held this union together.

These Founding men were radical and liberal.

It is time to reclaim our nation and return it to its original  ”patriotic” values. These constitute our rightful inheritance and inspiration. The United States of America was the dream of these great men we revere so much. They considered it the great experiement. To this day, the reason the world wants to come here is not really for the big TV’s,  fast foods, etc. The real reason the world wants to come here is still to be part of the remarkable experiment.

After the first Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what type of government the Founders had chosen. Franklin replied, “We have given you a republic—if you can keep it. I believe we must never give up.

Original sketch of the drawing up of our Constitution

Part of this blog has been excerpted from Fighting Words, by Robin Morgan.