Wisconsin Student Suspended for Not Speaking English

Written by Amy Spicer

Racism can be experienced at any age. Just ask seventh grader Miranda Washinawatok (left) who was recently suspended from her basketball team for a game. The reason? She spoke her native language of Menominee to another student.

Miranda attends Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Shawano, Wisconsin, which is situated about six miles from the south border of the Menominee Indian Tribe Reservations. With a student body that is over 60% American Indian one could reason that this would be a school that would both welcome and encourage its diversity.

Instead it’s shown quite the opposite, with such bigotry being displayed to a bilingual seventh grader who was simply teaching another student how to say “hello”… Read more

Tis The Season to Give….

Written by Amy Spicer

Here’s a little holiday cheer, in the midst of hard times, according to an annual poll conducted by the International Charities Aid Foundation, Americans are both volunteering more and giving more to charity. And in a year that saw the 99% begin to gain its voice, it also saw the resilience and empathy of that 99% as the survey showed once again that the upper-class was undistinguished in their donations as opposed to those less fortunate who are strikingly generous.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they had donated money to charity, more than 40% volunteered their time, and close to three-fourths said they had helped a stranger. Of those numbers households earning less… Read more

Rick Perry: New Ad Brings Same Old Exclusions

Written by Amy Spicer

In his new campaign commercial, Rick Perry serves up yet another platter of homophobia with a side of religious zeal. In a campaign filled with gaffes including, but clearly not limited to, failing to name the three agencies he would dismantle if elected, entertaining supporters at his hunting ranch with an overtly racist former name aligning himself with the birther movement, and his overall inability to understand the separation of church and state, Perry has decided to introduce into lexicon Obama’s “war on religion”. And he’s vowed that if elected President he’ll end said war.

While Perry’s strident anti-gay rhetoric has become a staple of his campaign his “war on… Read more

Economy

It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Chaos

Written by Amy Spicer

In 2008, crowds of frantic Black Friday shoppers trampled 34 year-old Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour to his death as he and other workers tried to unlock the door at 5:00 A.M. It went unnoticed by most of those involved in the stampede as they clamored to get their deals.

Black Friday 2011 came and went with no deaths on record; however, there was still an abundance of ugly incidents reported by authorities. International corporate conglomerate Wal-Mart can lay claim to some of the worst, two of which were shootings—one in California, another in South Carolina. In Little Rock, Arkansas, a $2 waffle iron caused a riot of mindless violence. Los Angeles saw… Read more

Birther Rick Perry: Jokes & “Post-Racial” America

Written by Amy Spicer

In two recent interviews with Parade and the New York Times, Texas Governor Rick Perry, currently biding for the presidential GOP nomination, insisted that he was not certain that President Obama was born in the United States.

In a form of conspiracy-stoking that’s as well-trodden as it is insidious, Perry openly links himself to the birther movement. Bent on cultivating racial paranoia, the birther-movement placed the burden on our first African American president to prove what passed without query for our forty-three white presidents.

Perhaps it’s too obvious to say that the birthers’ insistence on Obama’s illegitimacy is based on racism. After all, aren’t we living in a post-racial America? And… Read more

Jim DeMint: Making Choices on Behalf of Women Everywhere

Written by Amy Spicer

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has dealt yet another blow to women’s rights. Recently, DeMint rather underhandedly attached a radical anti-abortion amendment onto an otherwise completely unrelated piece of legislation.

On the heels of passing the so-called Protect Life Act, which prohibits women from buying health insurance plans that cover abortion under the Affordable Care Act and also makes it legal for hospitals to deny abortions to pregnant women with life-threatening conditions, DeMint’s amendment would ban women and their doctors from discussing abortion over the Internet.

Where was this amendment filed, you ask? Well, it was tacked onto a bill related to agriculture, transportation, and housing, of course.

Specifically, the DeMint amendment… Read more

Politics

Rick Perry and…Friends?

Written by Amy Spicer

With Texas governor Rick Perry throwing his hat into the Grand Old Party circus ring last month, the disturbing anti-gay elements which have permeated this GOP primary season continued. Since his August 13th announcement, Perry has made his anti-gay position clear by aligning himself with strident homophobes like David Barton, John Stemberger and Pam Olson.

Along with fellow candidates Bachmann and Santorum, Perry signed the National Organization for Marriage Pledge, and committed himself to supporting a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage throughout the country; defending the Defense of Marriage of Act in court; appointing judges and a U.S. attorney general who “will respect the original meaning” of the U.S. Constitution; supporting legislation… Read more

Michelle Bachmann & Rick Santorum Sign Anti-LGBT “Pledge”

Written by Amy Spicer

The Family Leader, an ultra-conservative Christian group based in Iowa, recently created a document titled, “The Marriage Vow – A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family.” Presently, they are asking Republican presidential candidates to sign it, promising only those who do so will receive their endorsement.

Their signing deadline of August 1st has come-and-gone, but not before GOP candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum both signed on the dotted line.

This pledge, which opposes marriage equality absolutely, declares homosexuality a choice, asserting that family life for pre-Civil War slave children was not only preferable today but also more beneficial, as children “were more likely to be raised in a two-parent household” than “an African-American… Read more

Politics

A Boy and His Pink Toenails

Written by Amy Spicer

In a recent feature, J. Crew’s online catalogue portrays designer Jenna Lyons with her son Beckett. It’s a stunning shot of a mother and her very clearly adored child, a boy who happens to be sporting pink toenails. The accompanying quote by Ms. Lyons states: “Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon.”

Immigration

LGBTQ community speaks out on immigration despite risks of deportation and persecution

Written by Amy Spicer

Same-gender sex is illegal in more than 80 countries. Even more shocking, gays and lesbians face the death penalty in several of those countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The recent murder of Ugandan gay activist David Kato after a newspaper published photos of him and other activists next to the words “Hang Them” not only dealt a devastating blow to the cause but also illustrated the real danger these individuals face.

Despite the threat of violence internationally against the LGBTQ community, there continues to be brave individuals who are taking a stand for gay and immigrant rights, even at the risk of deportation to homelands where their lives may be in danger.