On Saturday, a Neo Nazi hate group in Charlotte, North Carolina held a rally made up of about 50 supporters. But their biggest enemies turned out to be over a hundred clowns. According to local reports, the Neo Nazi protesters were outnumbered at least five to one.
The National Socialist Movement (NSM), a neo-nazi hate group, was supposed to hold an anti-immigration rally but they were drowned out by all the clowns making noise. Counter-protesters brought squeaky toys, whistles, noise-makers, red noses and flour—every time the NSM mentioned “white power” the counter demonstrators sprinkled white flour in to the air.
The counter demonstration was organized by the Latin American Coalición, according to their website they’re “a community of Latin Americans, immigrants and allies that promotes full and equal participation of all people in the civic, economic and cultural life of North Carolina through education, celebration and advocacy.”
“The message from us is, you look silly,” Lacey Williams, the youth coordinator for Charlotte’s Latin American Coalición, told WCNC. “We’re dressed like clowns and you’re the ones that look funny.”
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NSM is an organization that specializes in theatrical and provocative protests and is one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States.
Before election results came in, Arapahoe was considered the swing county in the swing state of Colorado. Roughly a third of the county’s voters are registered Republicans, a third are registered Democrats, and the remaining third are independents. The county and the state ultimately swung to reelect President Obama—and voters of color had a crucial voice in that decision.
Law enforcement and poll workers in other Colorado counties had already harassed Latino canvassers and early voters (story down below). And on Election Day, Arapahoe County voters experienced very long lines, and rumors began to emerge about possible voter challengers.
When I arrived to Arapahoe’s Aurora CenterPoint voting center, people were braving chilling temperatures to wait their turn to cast a ballot. A handful of volunteers handed out water bottles, some cups of coffee, and even pizza to thirsty and hungry voters—and their sometimes exhausted kids—in line.
Shortly afterwards, I noticed a man wearing a suit with a distinguishable US flag tie, who seemed especially irritated as he walked around the voting center, sometimes looking at people in line and turning red with anger. Long after the doors were closed, and the final batch of voters were casting their ballots, this gentleman made two phone calls to report what he had observed—all within earshot of several voters and poll workers, who sometimes stared at him in confusion or disbelief.
The man, who later identified himself to me as Republican poll watcher Dayton Conway, complained not only about the water and pizza handed to voters in line, but also about what he said was the disproportionate amount of people of color who were casting ballots. According to the 2010 census, “White persons not Hispanic” made up less than 50 percent of Aurora’s population—and that’s a big change from just 20 years ago previously, when they made up nearly 80 percent of the city’s population. In some ways, Aurora is a present day microcosm of this country’s demographic future, which is shifting towards a numerical majority of people of color.
Conway, meanwhile, was in denial about his city’s population, and frustrated that so many people of color cast their ballots at the CenterPoint voting center. Many did so because Colorado’s Secretary of State, Republican Scott Gessler, encouraged voters in several counties, including Arapahoe, to use voting centers anywhere in the county, instead of assigned polling stations. That means people driving to and from work could stop by at a location most convenient to them—and they did.
Conway’s comments and physical irritability didn’t seem to deter any voters from casting their ballots during the three or so hours I was there. But his statements do illustrate some of what’s wrong with far-right poll watchers like the True the Vote group, which insists there’s rampant voter fraud despite any real evidence to support its claims. What Aurora’s voters proved last night was that they recognized their right to cast a ballot, and they weren’t swayed by people who think otherwise.
Although both presidential candidates stopped their visits to Colorado days ago, it remains a crucial swing state in this election. With just nine electoral votes, and its distance from the eastern part of the country, the Centennial State has lost its spot in the national media, but may prove important in this tight race.
That’s why canvassers have been busy encouraging people to vote here. But it hasn’t necessarily been easy to either canvas or show up to the polling station for some Latinos. One canvasser, who works with a coalition of groups leading a get out the vote initiative told me that, during her training, she was told, “And watch out for police. They don’t always think people who look like us should be out in the street.”
Not many job descriptions include a warning that the work may entail police harassment, but this is Colorado, where demographics are changing. In 2010, the Latino population hit one million—accounting for every one in five Coloradans. As more and more Latinos turn 18, it’s that younger generation that may hold the key to sway this election. The Latino vote here is expected to increase 15 percent over the last presidential election, accounting for nearly 9 percent of the state’s electorate.
The quiet, rural town of Pueblo West, just a two hour drive from Denver, is a mixed neighborhood that’s part of the greater city of Pueblo, which makes up more than 40 percent of the state’s entire Latino population. And canvassers there are eager to encourage all voters to get out to the polls. One canvasser, who declined to have his name for publication, was doing just that last week when he ran in to trouble. He and his canvassing partner, who are both Latino, noticed local Sheriffs were sometimes tailing them, but they continued their work.
They drove to a local convenience store for snacks, but when they got back into their car, they realized they couldn’t back away from the parking spot because it was blocked by two Pueblo County Sheriff’s vehicles. They were both asked to show identification, and deputies ran these for outstanding warrants. The canvassers explained they were simply urging people to get out and vote, but the deputies replied that local residents called in to complain about two suspicious Latinos in the neighborhood. The deputies then told them they should quit immediately, and “call it a day.”
And it’s not just Pueblo County where Latinos feel they’re being harassed. I spoke with one woman who was a first time voter in Boulder. A mother who’s originally from Central America, she also declined to have her name in print for fear of retaliation. She became a citizen last year, and was so excited to cast her ballot that she voted early last week. But the process was confusing for her, and after she came home and spoke with family members, she realized she had accidently skipped a portion of her ballot. She returned with her daughter and son-in-law the next day, to inquire if she could fix her ballot, or have it annulled and cast a new one in its place.
That’s when she says things got out of hand. One poll worker, who was white, began to get angry. He told her she would be charged with a felony, have to pay fines, and serve time in prison. He then rose from his seat, and she says she was afraid he might strike at her son-in-law. Fellow poll workers, she says, all went absolutely silent, and essentially embarrassed him from any further harassment. This new voter told me that had her daughter and son-in-law not been there with her that day to protect her, she would never consider voting again.
The Department of Justice is monitoring elections in Denver County, and hundreds of volunteer poll workers, recruited through the Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable, will be making sure that voters aren’t harassed at the polls. But they may meet their match if poll challengers begin questioning voters’ right to cast a ballot. True the Vote, which held a summit here earlier this year, claims that they, too are dispatching thousands of monitors.
If today’s outcome comes down to Colorado, that will mean it may likely come down to the state’s Latino voters. But they may have to overcome unnecessary obstacles to cast their ballots.
“I think after people do see the show they’ll see something that’s not only really funny and entertaining but has a message of love and understanding.” – Justin Bartha
“The New Normal,” one of the most controversial new shows of the year, has been released online before its premiere.
Already the target of a boycott campaign by One Million Moms and dropped by KSL, a Salt Lake City NBC affiliate, “The New Normal” follows a gay couple and their quest to have a child. “Book of Mormon” star Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha play Bryan and David, the couple at the center of the story, NeNe Leakes, Ellen Barkin, Georgia King and Bebe Wood round out the cast.
“The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, told the Salt Lake City Tribune.
“I always find it to be interesting for people to make that decision before they’ve even seen it. The show is about tolerance — it’s a discussion of tolerance,” executive producer Ryan Murphy said in response to the One Million Moms protest. “Actually, if they watched it, I think they would like it.”
July 26, 2012 Wearing a pressed gray suit, black shoes and a purple shirt and tie, Kameron Slade, 10, fidgeted slightly before his name was called in the City Council chambers on Wednesday. He approached the microphone set before the room full of politicians, lowered his head to the papers he clutched in his hands and began to speak.
“President Barack Obama recently talked about same-sex marriage with his wife and two daughters. Some people are for same-gender marriage, while others are against it,” Kameron said. “Like President Obama, I believe that all people should have the right to marry whoever they want. Marriage is about love, support and commitment. So who are we to judge?”
Kameron was invited by the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, to deliver his speech, which he wrote two months ago for a student competition at Public School 195 in Rosedale, Queens. The principal, Beryl Bailey, deemed it inappropriate for the school, so Kameron was at first not allowed to deliver his speech on the topic.
After NY1 and other local news media brought attention to Kameron’s story, he became an Internet sensation and something of a symbol for social acceptance and free speech. A video of Kameron delivering his speech has been watched more than 600,000 times on YouTube. He was eventually allowed to deliver the speech at a separate assembly at his school, after the Education Department stepped in.
Kameron’s mother, April Grantham-Slade, said she sat down with him in May, when he first came home with his assignment from class. Ms. Grantham-Slade said Kameron told her he wanted to speak on a topic his fellow classmates had not discussed much. So they began to brainstorm. Earlier that month, Mr. Obama announced he was supporting same-sex marriage, a move seen by some as purely political but by others as an act of bravery. For Kameron, it was a prime chance to bring that national discussion to his peers.
“Sometimes we’ll be walking down the street and we’ll see two men or two women holding hands; and he gets that,” Ms. Grantham-Slade said. “I want my children to be accepting.”
Kameron recalled the time he and his mother went on a farm trip with two of his mother’s friends, who are lesbians, to the full Council chamber. “They seemed like any other family,” he said. “The only difference was that they were two moms instead of a mother and father.”
After speaking before the Council, Kameron said he had been disappointed when he was forbidden from delivering the speech at school, but gratified with the attention his message has received since then, and that New York City’s leaders got to hear it. “I felt very confident when I was doing it,” he said. “I feel honored because not many people get to do this.”
Council members thanked Kameron, who was joined in the chamber by his mother, father and grandfather, and encouraged him to continue expressing his opinions on issues. Ms. Quinn, a Democrat, who married her longtime partner, Kim M. Catullo, in May, noted that the meeting came one day after the anniversary of same-sex marriage legalization in New York State.
More than 10,000 same-sex couples have been issued marriage licenses in the state since then.
“I’m getting married on Saturday, in three days, to my partner of 13 and a half years,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, a Democrat. “When I saw you on TV, I thought you were the most courageous and wonderful young man I’ve ever seen.”
Love this song because it’s so beautifully arranged, but that it’s sung by such empowering women is the icing on this cake.
Oh, I just want you to know That you deserve the best, you’re beautiful Oh baby, you’re beautiful, baby, you’re beautiful And you’re far from the usual
“How To Love” by Lil Wayne, cover by Delilah
When you were just a young and your looks were so precious
But now you’re grown up, so fly it’s like a blessing
But you can’t have a man look at you for five seconds
Without you being insecure
Oh, you had a lot of dreams that turned into visions
The fact that you saw the world affected all your decisions
But it wasn’t your fault, wasn’t in your intentions
To be the one here talking to me, be the one listening
Listening, listening, listening
You see you had a lot of crooks
Trying to steal your heart
Never really had luck, couldn’t ever figure out
How to love, how to love
You had a lot of moments that didn’t last forever
Now you’re in this corner trying to put ‘em all together
How to love, how to love, how to love, love
Oh, I just want you to know
That you deserve the best, you’re beautiful
Oh baby, you’re beautiful, baby, you’re beautiful
And you’re far from the usual
You see you had a lot of crooks
Trying to steal your heart
Never had luck, couldn’t ever figure out
How to love
See you had a lot of moments that didn’t last forever
Now you’re in this corner trying to put it all together
How to love, how to love
[chorus]
I’m meee, I’m mee, and that’s all I can be
I’m meee, I’m eee, it’s my one ability
I’m free
And you can’t stop meee,
I’m free, and that’s all I can be
Days pass, I’m tryna find who I really am
I’ve been looking
People don’t like the way I dress
So it won’t matter, I’ve been looking
I’ve done my hair and it’s not just that easy
I’ve been looking
Your validation it’s not just that important to me
[Chorus]
I’m meee, I’m mee, and that’s all I can be
I’m meee, I’m eee, it’s my one ability
I’m free
And you can’t stop meee,
I’m free, I’m meee, and that’s all I can be
Night falls and I find it here I am in peace
I’ve been looking
Making friends with spirits lost
And it sets me free, I’ve been looking
Express myself cause it’s my liberty
I’ve been looking
Your validation it’s not just that important to me
[Chorus]
I’m meee, I’m mee, and that’s all I can be
I’m meee, I’m eee, it’s my one ability
I’m free
And you can’t stop meee,
I’m meee, I’m free, and that’s all I can be
I am me, I am me, I am me
I am free, I am free, I am free
I am me, I am me, I am me
I am free, I am free, X 2
Ooooooooooooohhhhhhh
Create yourself, redo yourself
Renew yourself
Be you, do what you do,
Hold your head up high, everything’s gonna alright
You’re you, I’m me, let’s livei n harmony
Coexist with each other, love each other
Be yourself
You have to be yourself, be real, be honest
Cause ain’t nobody got time for that
They really don’t, so listen to me
Listen to this song, because this is real facts
That will help you move along, yeah
That’s all I wanted to say, so I love you guys so much
Hope you like the song and you know, yolo, misfits, argh haha.
Lacey Buchanan never dreamed that a Youtube video she created about her blind baby boy and his rare cleft palate condition would spread virally, racking up some 7 million views and delivering hundreds of personal messages of support to her Facebook and email inboxes.
In the seven-minute video, which she made using her iPhone, the 25-year-old mother from Woodbury, Tenn., describes the triumph of witnessing 14-month-old Christian’s giggles in the face of the constant stares and whispers they encounter in public when strangers see her baby.
He was born with an an extremely rare condition called Tessier cleft, which means that he was unable to fully close his mouth, and that his eyes are also clefted such that they never even formed.
Buchanan, who works at a day care center and also attends the Nashville School of Law, said she made the video about their struggle because she wanted her son “to grow up knowing he’s important, knowing he has value, despite the way that he looks,” Buchanan said. ”I never thought it would be as big as it has gotten, but I’m thrilled that Christian is becoming a face and a voice for this, that beauty is so much deeper than what you look like,” she said.
Her own video was inspiredby a film made by a woman named Lizzie, who tells the story of how her disfigured face, caused by a rare, unnamed medical condition, led classmates to call her “the world’s ugliest woman.”
In the video, Buchanan faces the camera while holding Christian to her chest without revealing his face, the boy’s tousled blond hair the same shade as hers. Her expressive face turns from beaming to tearful as she wordlessly holds up signs and photos to the camera, describing how thrilled she and her husband were to learn of her pregnancy, the difficult news that their unborn son would have a cleft palate, and their joy that he was born alive, since doctors worried that his internal organs wouldn’t be fully formed and that he wouldn’t be able to breathe properly on his own.
But the road ahead was hard. While Christian’s internal organs were completely normal, he was born without eyes, and underwent surgery on his cleft palate when he was just four days old, spending four weeks recovering in the neonatal intensive care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. It took the hospital two months just to give his rare condition a name, Buchanan said, and the couple discovered that only about 50 other people in the world had the same diagnosis of Tessier cleft.
Buchanan and her husband had no idea how to care for a blind baby — and in particular, they weren’t prepared for how people would stare at him. ”The first time I went to the grocery store, I didn’t expect to leave crying because people were whispering behind my back,” she said. “It was something I had to try to get used to.” Children would ask their mothers “what was wrong with ‘that baby,’” and one acquaintance even cruelly messaged Buchanan on Facebook to tell her she was a “horrible person” for not aborting Christian.
Despite the negative attention, the Buchanans received ample support from friends and family, and from their local Baptist church, which has held multiple fundraisers for Christian’s medical care and constantly checks in with the couple to inquire how their son is doing.
And, as Buchanan describes in her video, Christian grew into a happy baby who, in the face of strangers’ comments, “would start giggling … and they would giggle, too,” which eventually spurred an outpouring of messages to her family on Facebook, and well-wishes in public from people who recognized them after hearing about their story.
Only at the end of the video does she turn Christian around to reveal his face to the camera, and she lovingly kisses his cheek while he sucks on a pacifier (which he is now able to do because of surgeries on his cleft palate).
She posted the video two months ago, and it has since generated nearly 7 million views and 1.8 million Facebook “likes” after an inspired fan reposted it on the Christian video site GodVine.
Because of the attention, Buchanan has connected with three other people who have Tessier cleft — two adults and the parent of another — and she said the support has been life changing. ”I try to make the best decisions I can for Christian, especially medically, and sometimes I’m put into corners, where whichever decision I make is going to impact Christian’s life,” she said. “Being able to reach out to someone who has lived there [with his condition], it takes a huge burden off me.”
Since making the video, she’s also created a Facebook page for Christian, and receives so many messages of support that she now turns off her iPhone notifications at night so she’s able to sleep.
Buchanan knows Christian faces a much more difficult road ahead of him than a baby born without his condition, but she’s thrilled her video has inspired so many people. ”When Christian’s old enough, let’s ask him if he’s glad I let him live,” she said. “His laugh is so valuable, at 14 months old, and is making more of a difference than most people ever do.”
The hem/oncology floor of Seattle Children’s Hospital performs Kelly Clarkson’s song “Stronger” :) Definitely a heart-warming number, and it’s no wonder this video has gone viral!
A graphic video played at a hearing Monday to determine whether two California police officers should stand trial in the beating death of a homeless man showed them kicking and punching the mentally ill man as he lay on the ground — screaming in pain and begging for help.
The victim, Kelly Thomas, died five days after the beating on July 5.
Manuel Ramos, a 10-year veteran of the Fullerton, California, police department, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, while Cpl. Jay Patrick Cicinelli faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony use of excessive force in the same case.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
The black-and-white video was played during a preliminary hearing for the two officers.
It begins with Thomas — a 37-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia — sitting and being told by Ramos to put his feet out and hands on his knees.
The officers were responding to a call about a homeless man looking into car windows and pulling on handles of parked cars.
In the video, Thomas is slow to cooperate.
Ramos then tells him: “You see my fists? They’re getting ready to f— you up.”
Thomas, who is unarmed and shirtless, stands and another officer walks over. They hit him with their batons and hold him on the ground as he begs for help. ”Ok, I’m sorry, dude. I’m sorry!” he screams. At one point, Thomas says he can’t breathe. The officers tell him to lie on his stomach, put his hands behind his back and relax. ”Ok, here, here, dude, please!” he says.
Other officers arrive.
At times, trees block the view of the camera and it’s not always clear who is doing what as officers pile on top of Thomas. One uses a Taser stun gun.
Thomas cries out for help and. toward the end of the beating, for his father: “Dad! Help me. Help me. Help me, dad.” His voice gets softer and trails off.
By the end of the video, he is lying in a pool of blood as the officers wonder out loud what to do next. One can be heard saying: “We ran out of options so I got to the end of my Taser and I … smashed his face to hell.”
Thomas suffered brain injuries, facial fractures, rib fractures, and extensive bruising and abrasions, according to prosecutors.
The Orange County coroner listed his manner of death as a homicide and said he died after having his chest compressed, leaving him unable to breathe.
The FBI is investigating possible civil rights violations in his case.
Six Fullerton officers, including Ramos and Cicinelli, were put on paid leave after his death. The case drew widespread attention to the police department of Fullerton, located about 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
At a “special needs school” in Canton, Massachusetts, children and teenagers with autism and other disabilities are being administered electric shocks as a means of controlling their behaviors. As a former Teacher’s Assistant, I regret having participated firsthand at this school – The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC).
The human rights abuses taking place at the JRC are well documented. The United Nations is aware of the JRC and has called these shocks “torture”, and says that “The prohibition of torture is absolute.” Yet the school continues to use a powerfully painful electric shock device on students to control their behaviors. These devices are reportedly much stronger than police stun guns and were created by the founder of the Judge Rotenberg Center.
The Judge Rotenberg Center must immediately stop its practice of shocking special needs students.
Rather than shocking students for only severe behaviors, student behavior plans at JRC dictated that we shock certain students for even the most minor of behavioral issues like closing their eyes for 15 seconds while sitting at the desk, pulling apart a loose piece of thread, tearing an empty used paper cup, or for standing up and raising a hand to ask to go to the bathroom. In some classrooms, very often students who observe their peers being shocked react in fear by standing up out of their seat, yelling or crying, or throwing down their task — and are then shocked for these reactions.
A non-verbal nearly blind girl with cerebral palsy was shocked as part of her behavioral plan for making a moaning sound and for attempts to hold a staff’s hand (her attempts to communicate and to be loved).
In 2002, 18 year-old Andre McCollins was strapped down and shocked for hours at the JRC. He begged for the shocks to stop and when they did, he was left in a catatonic state for days which resulted in permanent damage.
The JRC’s founder, Dr. Matthew Israel, resigned after being charged with misleading a grand jury by destroying video footage of other students being shocked.
Not only does the JRC need to immediately stop this practice but Massachusetts legislators need to make these shock procedures illegal. These students are among Massachusetts’ most vulnerable citizens and have no voice of their own to describe their pain. They need your help.
Demand that the JRC stop shocking students now!
If you are interested, please help by signing the petition using the link above.
When his 10-year-old son, Akian, started getting into trouble at school, Stuart Chaifetz was stunned. The notes from Horace Mann Elementary School in Cherry Hill, N.J., said that Akian, who has autism, was having violent outbursts and hitting his teacher and his aide – behavior that the boy had never exhibited before.
“I could not understand why this was happening,” Chaifetz, a 44-year-old animal rights activist in New Jersey, wrote on his website. “I had never witnessed Akian hit anyone, nor could I dream of him lashing out as had been described to me.”
In October 2011, he met with Akian’s teachers and school therapists. A behaviorist was called in, but during several classroom visits he didn’t see Akian become violent. “He tried to create a scenario that would push Akian so far that he would lash out,” Chaifetz explained. “And Akian did not.”
“If Akian was pushed and didn’t do anything, what was setting him off?” his dad wondered. After six months of meetings yielded no answers, he decided that he needed to know what was happening in his son’s class. Like Akian, all of the other kids in his class also have autism, and complications from the disorder prevent them from being able to communicate to their parents about what goes on in the classroom.
“The morning of February 17, I put a wire on my son, and I sent him to school,” Chaifetz says in a video he created to showcase the audio clips. “What I heard on that audio was so disgusting, vile, and just an absolute disrespect and bullying of my son, that happened not by other children, but by his teacher, and the aides — the people who were supposed to protect him. They were literally making my son’s life a living hell.”
The recordings are raw and intense. Angry adults yell at kids to “shut up,” “shut your mouth,” and “knock it off.” Adults have inappropriate personal conversations in front of the children, discussing how drunk they were the night before, complaining about their husbands, and talking in detail about adult issues. More than once, an adult goads Akian to the point of tears — and then laughs at him.
“Go ahead and scream,” one adult hisses menacingly at Akian. “Because guess what? You’re going to get nothing… until your mouth is shut.”
And later: “Oh, Akian, you are a bastard.”
“The six and a half hours of audio I had proved that my son wasn’t hitting the teacher because there was something wrong with him — he was lashing out because he was being mocked, mistreated and humiliated,” Chaifetz writes on his website, No More Teacher/Bully. “His outbursts were his way of expressing that he was being emotionally hurt at school.”
Chaifetz gave the entire six-and-a-half-hour recording to the Cherry Hill School district (you can hear more of the clips here). One aide, Jodi Sgouros, was fired. Another aide and the teacher, whom the Collingswood Patch identifies as Kelly Altenburg, were reassigned but not fired.
“I don’t know why the teacher wasn’t fired,” Chaifetz writes on his blog. “Maybe the District had no choice; perhaps tenure or HR regulations did not permit them to do so. I know that they were sincere and shocked when they found out what happened. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in this.”
On Tuesday, officials at the Horace Mann School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, directed calls from Yahoo! Shine to the Cherry Hill School District’s offices; a call to a spokesperson there was not immediately returned. Cherry Hill Public School District spokesperson Susan Bastnagel told the Collingswood Patch on Tuesday only that the incident is “an internal personnel matter that the district took seriously and handled appropriately.”
Chaifetz disagrees, and has started a Facebook page and launched a petition at Change.org calling for the teacher’s dismissal. He’s already gathered nearly 18,500 signatures. “No one who treats children like that, who calls them vicious names, who humiliates them, who batters them verbally, deserves to be a teacher,” Chaifetz says in the video. ”How is it possible that teachers and staff can do these things, and you have evidence — not just accusations, but evidence — and they’re still teaching?” he said in an interview with Babble.com. To me, that’s the bigger outrage here. How many times has this happened before? How many times will it happen again if I remain quiet?”
For his part, Chaifetz says that what he really wants from the teacher and aides involved is a public apology and a willingness to take responsibility for their actions.v”I want an apology, not for me, but so one day I can play this video back for my son and say Akian, you didn’t deserve anything that happened to you,” he says in the video. “I’m not going to sue anybody. I’m not going to file a lawsuit. It’s not about money. It’s about dignity. This is to reclaim my son’s dignity.”
It’s a special event that brings together people from all over the world. And now it has inspired a commercial that praises moms of Olympic athletes — and it has gone viral on the Web.
The spot from Procter & Gamble has already been viewed on YouTube more than 700,000 times, receiving thousands of comments. (Full disclosure: P&G is a sponsor of Yahoo! Olympics coverage.)
“Best Job,” which was created for the London 2012 Olympic Games, honors the mothers of the extraordinary athletes who will compete in this summer’s games.
The ad starts with moms around the world waking their young children when it’s still dark outside, feeding them breakfast, and seeing them off to sports practice. The moms, tireless supporters, watch their sleepy children grow into talented athletes. The payoff comes as their kids compete in the Olympics.
There is little dialogue; instead, a lush, orchestral score plays in the background. The ad’s simple text reads “The hardest job in the world is the best job in the world” and labels Proctor & Gamble a “Proud sponsor of Moms.” The spot encourages viewers to go to its Facebook page to post a thank-you message to their mothers.
The emotional ad airs at a time when the conversation about the job of being a mother is heating up (stay-at-home mom Ann Romney mixed it up with Obama supporter Hilary Rosen), and it sets the stage for the upcoming Mother’s Day (May 13) and the Olympics.
Clearly, the spot strikes a chord with both parents and offspring alike. Comments like this are typical: “this gave me chills” from user StarOwna. Viewer Shadibraish wrote, “I have seen those precious tears! … I love you MOM!” User notsalad admits, “i didnt cry the first time i watched it … but i cried the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time.”
A new Turkish shampoo commercial featuring video of Adolf Hitler declaring the hair rinse a product for “real men” has been met with formal complaints from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and others who say it is deeply offensive.
“We follow with sadness and regret the use of Hitler figure in the Biomen Men Shampoo advertisement, which was brought to the screen in recent days,” the Turkish Jewish Community said in a statement. ”It’s totally unacceptable to make use of Hitler, the most striking example of cruelty and savagery. … Using him in an advertisement for whatever reason is an unacceptable situation and could not be accepted by us at all. This is beyond all ethics as well as a huge insult to human rights.”
The ad has been running on Turkish television stations for about a week, AFP reports.
In the ad from shampoo maker “Biomen,” archived video of former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is played in which he is seen yelling and gesturing wildly with his hands, while a fictional text translates his message across the screen. “If you are not wearing a woman’s dress, you should not use her shampoo either,” Hitler says in the ad. “Here it is, a real mens’ shampoo, Biomen.” The video then cuts to a picture of the shampoo bottle with the on-screen message, “Real men use Biomen.”
ADL National Director, and Holocaust survivor Abraham H. Foxman called the advertisement “disgusting” in a statement released by the group. ”The use of images of the violently anti-Semitic dictator who was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust to sell shampoo is a disgusting and deplorable marketing ploy,” Foxman said. “It is an insult to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, those who survived, and those who fought to defeat the Nazis.
Wearing a pressed gray suit, black shoes and a purple shirt and tie, Kameron Slade, 10, fidgeted slightly before his name was called in the City Council chambers on Wednesday. He approached the microphone set before the room full of politicians, lowered his head to the papers he clutched in his hands and began to speak.
