Happy Wednesday Readers! The Hellions, Girl and I are getting ready to pack up and drive Up East to spend a week frolicking in Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine. So I figured that I should throw together something to tide over the dozens and dozens of readers who depend on this weekly link extravaganza for their window into what we, The Grounded Parents are reading on the internet machine.
From the Not New but New to Me Department, here’s an excellent question posed by Donna Jackson Nakazawa at HuffPo… Childhood Trauma Leads to Lifelong Chronic Illness…Why Isn’t the Medical Community Helping Patients?
Storytime Underground, a collective of youth librarians, laid out a powerful argument for why their profession should support the Black Lives Matter movement.
Mike Conley Jr., point guard for the Memphis Grizzlies and had a perfect response to some twitter trolls who questioned the parentage of his son Myles, claiming the child was too white to be his kid.
Remember last week’s story about Betsy DeVos and her staff at the Department of Education questioning Obama era rules about the way sexual assault on college campuses should be handled? Then please take the time to read this testimony from sexual assault survivor
Worse, DeVos is asking so-called “men’s rights” groups who harass victims to advise her on the law.
News like this makes it hard not to think about my own experience with campus violence. When I was 15 years old, I was raped by another student in high school. I felt scared and alone. That same year, I had overheard elders at my mosque share their experiences with racial profiling by law enforcement and their fear of an informant at our Friday prayers. I became terrified of the only institution I knew I could report my assault to — the police — and told no one at all.
Instead, I dropped out of high school and spent the next two years taking coursework online. At the time, I did not know that outside of a racist criminal system, Title IX provides survivors with the civil right to access the resources they need — free counseling services, extensions on papers, or getting moved out of a class shared with a rapist — to stay in school after an assault. A decade later, I now work with student survivors, who tell me every day why they too didn’t report to the police, and why Title IX — and all of its protections — have provided a desperately needed alternative to help them learn.
This is what Title IX is about: making sure the most vulnerable students are not harassed, assaulted, and pushed out of school. And as secretary of education, Betsy DeVos is tasked with upholding protections for these students. Rather than discuss campus rape with “men’s rights” groups, espouse rape myths in national publications, and threaten to roll back federal enforcement, the Department of Education needs to do its job. If DeVos actually listened to survivors, she might even learn a thing or two as to how
From the HOLY FUCK THIS JUST HAPPENED AS I WAS TYPING Department… The Cheeto Tinted Tyrant announced… on Twitter of course, that he is banning transgender individuals from serving in the military in any capacity. Fuck that guy…
Grieving children are often overlooked when we offer condolences to a family suffering from loss. Something to keep in mind the next funeral you attend.
In news that should surprise no one, kids still get bullied for being Atheist.
From Feministing… No, Sally Hemmings was not Thomas Jefferson’s Mistress. She was his victim.
#Justice4Kyira Means Justice for Black Mothers Everywhere
Kyira Johnson’s death was preventable. Not only her death, but the manner in which she died, exposes the horrific state of the U.S. health care system, especially for black women and mothers. Each year, more than 12,000 women die because of preventable causes related to childbirth and pregnancy.
Black women are between three and four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues (pdf) than white women. Studies have shown that these rates persist even when black and white women have the same socioeconomic status. Statistics for black women in the South are worse across the board given the legacy of state governments’ reluctance to guarantee basic health care services and reproductive rights.
And finally, An Open Letter to the Female Hat-Wearing Dog From “Go Dog, Go” I like her hat too…
This is what I hope to be getting all up in by this time next week 😉
