Feminist News
+ Under Trump, racism is seen as a problem by more Americans than ever before.
+ The State Department has launched an education exchange program inspired by Hidden Figures.
+ A Georgia lawmaker told his female colleague that pushing to remove Confederate statues could cause her to “go missing.” He additionally remarked that she wouldn’t be “met with torches but something a lot more definitive.”
+ Far-right Christians in Australia are fighting tooth and nail to stop marriage equality in the nation; a poster last week distributed by one group read “Stop the F*gs,” and an ad released this week by the Coalition for Marriage tries to paint a vote for same-sex marriage as a vote for “compulsory” …homosexuality?
+ James Mattis has announced that transgender troops will still be able to serve, pending a study by military experts.
+ Lebanon rolled back legal loopholes for rapists.
+ Houston’s mayor minced no words when he spoke to undocumented folks during Harvey. “If you need help and someone comes and they require help,” he said at a press conference Monday, “and then for some reason, then somebody tries to deport them, I will represent them myself.”
+ The city of Philadelphia is suing Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his sanctuary city rules.
+ A girl in India killed herself after her teacher period-shamed her.
+ France is overhauling labor laws.
+ Someone drove a car through a vigil in Missouri.
+ South Carolina’s Governor has blocked funding to abortion providers.
Movers & Shakers
+ Thousands of faith leaders went to Washington to condemn Trump and racism.
+ Newsweek talked to Rep. John Lewis, who is also an icon of the civil rights movement, about how we resist the rising tide of white supremacist violence and hate.
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to dosomething,” says Congressman John Lewis, who was born in Alabama to sharecropper parents and grew up to become one of the most important civil rights icons of the 20th and 21st centuries. “You have to speak up, speak out, make a little noise. Whatever you do, do it in an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion.”
That approach was at the heart of Lewis’s leadership in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when he participated in Freedom Rides and sit-ins to protest segregation in the South and led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966. He also organized the pivotal march from Selma to Montgomery that we now know as “Bloody Sunday,” when Alabama state troopers brutally attacked 600 peaceful protesters with clubs and tear gas as they walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the name of voting rights for black Americans.
“I wish I had a copy of the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of the sit-in movement that we drafted and used when 89 of us were arrested on February 27,” Lewis says, referring to the 1960 protest in Nashville that opposed segregated lunch counters. He ticks off some of the do’s: “Look straight ahead. Recognize your opponent. Try to look him straight in the eye. Show a friendly side. Make that eye contact—you’re a fellow human being! You stand there with a sense of dignity and pride, and move people to respect your own humanity as you respect their humanity.”
+ Dr. LeRoy Carhart, an abortion provider in Maryland, has vowed to continue providing later-term abortions—even though his building was just bought out by an anti-abortion group.
LeRoy Carhart, one of the few physicians in the United States who provides abortion care in the later stages of pregnancy, has provided abortion services at the Germantown clinic since 2010. Carhart told reproductive rights advocates that he plans to continue to provide abortion care in the area at a new clinic.
Carhart said in a statement to the Washington Post that he would continue to provide care for his patients.
“I am doing everything in my power to keep my practice open, and I am considering options looking toward the future,” Carhart said. “It’s heartbreaking that anyone would want to take health care away from women and families by targeting our clinic.”
+ Young men in Somaliland are coming together to fight for gender equality.
+ A group of nuns fighting a pipeline in Pennsylvania lost their case in court—but they’re not giving up.
Despite the decisive ruling, the nuns’ fight is not over. Last month, they filed suit in federal court, arguing that allowing the pipeline on their land would violate their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. They’re still waiting for a ruling in that suit, which could forestall Williams Cos. from beginning construction in their cornfield.
And Lancaster Against Pipelines, a grass-roots group opposing the Atlantic Sunrise project, has vowed since the construction of the outdoor chapel that if the company ever tries to tear out the wooden benches and altar, the group’s members will physically attempt to protect the space by praying there.
“Change is only going to happen from the bottom up,” Lancaster Against Pipelines leader Mark Clatterbuck said after the ruling last week. “It just comes down to local community doing it. No one’s going to come in and save us. It’s not going to be some judge.”
+ In response to the white supremacist violence that took root in Charlottesville, activists are walking from the city to Washington, D.C.—a 111 mile journey that will take them 10 days.
+ Ellen Bravo, Co-Director of Family Values @ Work, on Charlottesville and the rise of hate:
When I see armed men carrying Nazi flags, raising stiff-arm salutes and spewing anti-Semitic chants, I picture my relatives in the town of Borisov in 1941 as soldiers herded them and the rest of the town’s Jews together and drove them into giant pits. The soldiers killed them all, thousands of Jews, sparing bullets by burying most alive.
When I watch members of the KKK and other white supremacist groups marching defiantly and hoodless, I see the outrage of my black friends and colleagues at this echo of the long history of lynching in the U.S. Some lynchings happened in the dead of night, with or without a noose, but many took place in broad daylight, celebrated by mobs of white folks who brought their children to picnic at the spectacle.
But here’s what we must remember: the open display of white supremacy represents only the tip of the iceberg.
Deep Dives
+ If Trump cared about police, he wouldn’t be cutting domestic violence cops.
+ DAME digs into the reasons we should be worried about the Trump administration’s efforts to destroy data.
+ And now, a list of everyone who would be impacted if Trump stops protecting immigrant, refugees.
+ As Trump moves to re-militarize police, it might be worth looking back on Montana’s 2015 decision to refuse such gear.
+ Hospitals are charging sexual assault survivors exorbitant hospital fees.
+ Meet an undocumented family from Texas who fled Harvey—and, before that, two other hurricanes.
+ A new report found that more than 200,000 children were married between 2000 and 2015. Most were girls who married men decades older than them.
+ Six immigrants talked to Vox about the anxiety of living in Trump’s America.
+ Rewire reports on how hate is going “mainstream”—with Gavin McInnes, an “alt-lite” media executive, aligning with the President.
Last year, McInnes founded the Proud Boys, a growing movement aligned with President Trump, for men who identify with a nebulous philosophy called “Western chauvinism,” and are willing to literally fight for their beliefs at rallies, political events, and even in everyday life. Through their posts, their official magazine, and their online presence, the Proud Boys have broadcast their commitment to this creed.
Through his social media followings, McInnes’ messages and rhetoric can reach hundreds of thousands of people. His Twitter and Facebook followers number a combined 300,000. It’s not unusual for his videos to receive hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, with some clips going genuinely viral and being watched millions of times. And through the online talk show—The Gavin McInnes Show—which he hosted four days a week until last week when he announced his departure as part of the new mainstream deal, he reached additional audiences who were sufficiently enthused by his ideas to pay a monthly subscription to access right-wing programs.
Oren Segal, who leads the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s Center on Extremism, told Rewire that McInnes’ combination of social media talent, with his embrace of physical violence, make him stand out as especially dangerous, even among the ideologues of the far right.
“When you’re looking at people who are prolific online, and know how to get their memes and videos out in a way that Fortune 500 companies would love, that’s significant,” Segal said. Referring to the Proud Boys, Segal said, “I’m not sure how long this movement will have before maybe it melds into something else or is taken over by others who have more bona fides and ideologies. And that’s what’s scary, because there are extremists who are ready to pounce on this.”
Media, Arts & Culture
+ The New York Times talked to Bozoma Saint John, the new chief brand officer at Uber, about how she plans to tackle the company’s bad corporate culture.
+ The Venice Film Festival was extremely lacking in gender diversity. The people who organized it don’t seem to care.
+ Excerpts from Hillary Clinton’s forthcoming memoir, What Happened, are finally rolling out! In her first, she discussed the way Donald Trump loomed near her during their second debate; in an exclusive with Bustle, she draws a roadmap for young women who want to join the resistance.
+ Female athletes receive only four percent of all media coverage on sports. In the rare instance that they snag the spotlight, they’re also highly sexualized.
+ The Atlantic talked to Emmy-nominated Lena Waithe about what she wants from Hollywood.
