“Hello Chinky”

Shoutout to these agents of social change for bringing awareness of the commercialization of Asian culture in American society! Rock on :)

Taken from: http://hellochinky.wordpress.com/

The topic we decided to illustrate in our guerilla art project is the trivialization of Asian culture in commercialized products that provide a false representation of the Asian American identity. We wanted to capitalize on a “Hello, Kitty” theme, which is a Japanese icon that is widely known in American culture. We feel that this iconic character epitomizes the exploitation of Asian culture through commercialism. Our slogan, “Hello, Chinky,” is a parody of this theme; the purpose of this is to create a bold statement that will hopefully attract attention to our website. Our whole project is a parody of the commercialization of Asian culture in American society, which is illustrated through the already commercialized “Hello, Kitty.”

We plan on distributing stickers and posters all over the SF State campus early October.

“Anderson Cooper: “The Fact Is, I’m Gay.”"

Kudos, Anderson Cooper. Sadly most people will see this article and focus on the fact that he is gay, and not that he “couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.”

Taken from: http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/07/anderson-cooper-the-fact-is-im-gay.html

June 2, 2012

Last week, Entertainment Weekly ran a story on an emerging trend: gay people in public life who come out in a much more restrained and matter-of-fact way than in the past. In many ways, it’s a great development: we’re evolved enough not to be gob-smacked when we find out someone’s gay. But it does matter nonetheless, it seems to me, that this is on the record. We still have pastors calling for the death of gay people, bullying incidents and suicides among gay kids, and one major political party dedicated to ending the basic civil right to marry the person you love. So these “non-events” are still also events of a kind; and they matter. The visibility of gay people is one of the core means for our equality.

All of which is a prelude to my saying that I’ve known Anderson Cooper as a friend for more than two decades. I asked him for his feedback on this subject, for reasons that are probably obvious to most. Here’s his email in response which he has given me permission to post here:

Andrew, as you know, the issue you raise is one that I’ve thought about for years. Even though my job puts me in the public eye, I have tried to maintain some level of privacy in my life. Part of that has been for purely personal reasons. I think most people want some privacy for themselves and the people they are close to.

But I’ve also wanted to retain some privacy for professional reasons. Since I started as a reporter in war zones 20 years ago, I’ve often found myself in some very dangerous places. For my safety and the safety of those I work with, I try to blend in as much as possible, and prefer to stick to my job of telling other people’s stories, and not my own. I have found that sometimes the less an interview subject knows about me, the better I can safely and effectively do my job as a journalist.

I’ve always believed that who a reporter votes for, what religion they are, who they love, should not be something they have to discuss publicly. As long as a journalist shows fairness and honesty in his or her work, their private life shouldn’t matter. I’ve stuck to those principles for my entire professional career, even when I’ve been directly asked “the gay question,” which happens occasionally. I did not address my sexual orientation in the memoir I wrote several years ago because it was a book focused on war, disasters, loss and survival. I didn’t set out to write about other aspects of my life.

Recently, however, I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It’s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something – something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true.

I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand.

The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.

I have always been very open and honest about this part of my life with my friends, my family, and my colleagues. In a perfect world, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted. I’m not an activist, but I am a human being and I don’t give that up by being a journalist.

Since my early days as a reporter, I have worked hard to accurately and fairly portray gay and lesbian people in the media – and to fairly and accurately portray those who for whatever reason disapprove of them. It is not part of my job to push an agenda, but rather to be relentlessly honest in everything I see, say and do. I’ve never wanted to be any kind of reporter other than a good one, and I do not desire to promote any cause other than the truth.

Being a journalist, traveling to remote places, trying to understand people from all walks of life, telling their stories, has been the greatest joy of my professional career, and I hope to continue doing it for a long time to come. But while I feel very blessed to have had so many opportunities as a journalist, I am also blessed far beyond having a great career.

I love, and I am loved.

In my opinion, the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts, and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with the people in my life. I appreciate your asking me to weigh in on this, and I would be happy for you to share my thoughts with your readers. I still consider myself a reserved person and I hope this doesn’t mean an end to a small amount of personal space. But I do think visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter’s shield of privacy.

Me too.

Back from Hiatus.

Dear all,

Sorry for not posting for over a month, but agentsofsocialchange.wordpress.com is back up and running! Even though there were no posts or updates, hopefully you all still scoured the news for relevant stories and issues, and were inspired to take action in some shape or form.

This blog is about to BURST with stories, so stay tuned!

KONY 2012

Taken from: http://kony2012.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

Whether you support the movement or not, if you are interested, you can get more information and join the movement using the link above.

STARS: “We’re Not a Costume” Campaign

Taken from: http://lissawriting.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/racism-think/

STARS (Students Teaching Against Racism) mission: “to educate and facilitate discussion about racism and to promote racial harmony and to create a safe, non-threatening environment to allow participants to feel comfortable to express their feelings.”

The “we’re not a costume” campaign may be timed for Halloween, but it’s a reaction to an attitude that’s accepted every day as normal. It’s hard to explain exactly what is so wrong about being a geisha or a sheik for Halloween. It’s unsettling. It’s a feeling I’ve always struggled to articulate — a discomfort that sort of just sits in the place between your heart and your stomach, quietly nagging. It’s a sense of being wronged without knowing exactly what was done to you.

People who think racism is dead think so because they don’t see active discrimination. They think, “But minorities are allowed to do everything I’m allowed to do, so where’s the harm?” STARS’ poster campaign calls attention to another problem: Minorities are often made into caricatures.

And that’s why Ohio University’s Students Teaching About Racism in Society exists. STARS aims to “educate and facilitate discussion about racism and to promote racial harmony and to create a safe, non-threatening environment to allow participants to feel comfortable to express their feelings.”

STARS exists because racism is only playing dead. It manifests itself not in slurs and exclusion, but in stupid jokes and really inaccurate costumes. As a minority, you’re a character, not a person. People dress up as you on Halloween. On TV, you’re the token black guy, easily replaced by some other black guy after one season.

Racism is so much stealthier now. It doesn’t announce itself, and it’s complicated.

Slavery Footprint

A really graphically well-made website, simple, and really gets one thinking about our relationship with slavery. Who makes your make-up? Your electronics? Your food? Your soccer ball?

How many slaves work for you?

Your TOTAL SLAVERY FOOTPRINT represents the number of forced laborers that were likely to be involved in creating and manufacturing the products you buy. This is determined based on information regarding the processes used to create these products as well as investigations of the countries in which these stages of production take place for known slave labor (within these specific processes.) This number is compiled from multiple individual product scores (see below).

In order to create individual scores, we first chose to investigate slave labor usage in the supply chains of more than 400 of the most popular consumer products. 

http://slaveryfootprint.org/

7 Billion Actions

Taken from: http://7billionactions.org/

By the close of 2011, the global population will reach 7 billion. A world of 7 billion has implications for sustainability, urbanization, access to health services and youth empowerment. It is also an opportunity to renew global commitment for a healthy and sustainable world. 7 Billion Actions, a global movement for all humanity, was established by the United Nations Population Fund to highlight positive action by individuals and organizations and inspire others to join the movement.

The initiative – Objectives

• Building global awareness around the opportunities and challenges associated with a world of seven billion people.
• Inspiring governments, NGOs, private sector, media, academia and individuals to take actions that will have a socially positive impact.

Themes

• Poverty and inequality;
• Women and girls empowerment;
• Reproductive health and rights;
• Young people;
• Ageing population;
• Environment;
• Urbanization.

 

Agent: Teachers 4 Social Justice

Went to a great conference this morning put on by Teachers 4 Social Justice: “Teaching for Social Justice: The Power of Community”. The keynote speaker was Professor Gloria Ladson-Billings, a renown education professor whose talk was informative, funny, eye-opening, and moving. For more on her, check out her school bio at http://eps.education.wisc.edu/faculty/ladson-billings.asp I wanted to attend so many of the different workshops but alas, you can only pick one for the morning session and one for the afternoon! I wasn’t able to attend the afternoon session, but I will definitely try to make it back for the conference next year!

Teachers 4 Social Justice is a grassroots non-profit teacher support and development organization.  Our mission is to provide opportunities for self-transformation, leadership, and community building to educators in order to affect meaningful change in the classroom, school, community and society.

We have been working together for the past 10 years.  The majority of us are classroom teachers, working in public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, who do this work beyond their work day.  However our members include community based educators, private school educators, principals, administrators and parents.  T4SJ is a volunteer based organization. We receive a majority of our funding from the individual donations of ourselves, fellow educators and folks that want to support our work.  We generally don’t receive money from foundations to do our work.  We focus on building our organization by building our educator volunteer base.

If you want to join us and you live in the area, come to one of our general meetings which are listed on the calendar under “Upcoming Events” on our home page.  These meetings are open and a great place to plug in.

Learn more at http://www.t4sj.org/

“Schools Scrapping ID Cards Color-Coded by Test Scores”

Taken from: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-color-coded-id-cards-test-scores,0,5659545.story?hpt=us_bn7

October 7, 2011

LA PALMA, Calif. (KTLA) — School district leaders are eliminating programs at two Orange County high schools that color code student ID cards based on test scores.

At Kennedy High School in La Palma, students currently carry school IDs in one of three colors based on their performance on the California Standards Tests, plus a spiral-bound homework planner covered in a matching color. White signifies lower scores, gold signifies a higher level of achievement and improvement and black is the best all-around, signifying advanced test scores in all subjects.

High ranking color cards give students free admission to athletic events, as well as discounts to school dances and at local businesses. While low ranking card colors require students to stand in a separate cafeteria lunch line and come with no benefits.

But school district officials announced late Thursday afternoon that they have decided to eliminate the color-coding system, turning instead to uniform ID cards and notebooks, and lunch line privileges for all students. The district said in a statement: “We believe it is important to acknowledge and celebrate our students’ successes. The incentive programs at two… campuses were implemented with the best intentions. Yet, we recognize that innovative programs sometimes have unintended consequences that may impact some of our students.”

KTLA spoke to parents and students about the color-coded ID cards. ”It’s segregation between the students, and that’s wrong,” one parent told KTLA.

Students were somewhat divided on the issue. ”I care about my grades and my test scores, and I care about my future, and whenever I get called stupid it puts me down, and it makes me not even want to try,” student Shalie Chudomelka said. ”I think it’s bad,” student David Butler echoed. “I do feel discriminated about it.”

But not everyone felt that the system was all bad. ”If we abolish the gold card system, do we have to abolish sports?” student Alexander Jimenez said, defending the program. “They have varsity, they have frosh-soph. It’s a meritocracy. People are rewarded based on their performance.”

Still, an educational psychologist who specializes in student motivation called the system “one of the worst ideas ever.” UC Irvine assistant professor Anne Marie Conley told the OC Register that the three-tiered system stigmatizes the most academically vulnerable kids — underprivileged minorities, poor students and English learners.

Ben Carpenter, principal at Cypress High School, which now has a similar system, defended the program. He said there was nothing discriminatory about it. ”It’s not based on anything other than how hard you work to learn the material in the classroom and how well you’ve performed in this classroom,” Carpenter told the OC Register. According to Carpenter, the practice is no different than more traditional displays of achievement such as honor roll, letterman jackets, honor cords at graduation, honor societies, even students walking around school hallways carrying textbooks for honors and college-level Advanced Placement courses.

The California Department of Education told the Register on Tuesday that any program revealing information about how well a student has performed on state tests is a violation of the student’s privacy and should be terminated.

“Senate apologizes for discrimination against Chinese immigrants”

Taken from: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/us-senate-apologizes-for-mistreatment-of-chinese-immigrants.html

October 7, 2011

The U.S. Senate has approved a resolution apologizing for the nation’s past discriminatory laws that targeted Chinese immigrants, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

The resolution passed Thursday night, by unanimous consent, “cannot undo the hurt caused by past discrimination against Chinese immigrants, but it is important that we acknowledge the wrongs that were committed many years ago,” said Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), the lead sponsor.

A similar resolution, sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu (D-El Monte), the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, is pending in the House. It is backed by members of both parties. For Chu, the effort to get Congress to acknowledge the discrimination is personal; her grandfather faced the hostile laws. ”He decided to make something of his life anyway.  He opened up a small Chinese restaurant in Watts, and worked day and night and he was finally able to make ends meet,” Chu said Friday. “The thousands of Chinese Americans around this country with similar family histories will celebrate the passage of the Senate resolution.”

The Chinese Exclusion Act effectively halted Chinese immigration for a decade and denied U.S. citizenship to Chinese immigrants in the country. The law was repealed in 1943 after China became a U.S. ally in World War II. But Chu said that Congress has never apologized for the injustice. Brown took up the issue after hearing about how another Massachusetts senator, from the 19th Century, led the fight against the discriminatory laws, an aide said.

Congress has issued apologies before.

In 1988, President Reagan signed legislation providing $1.25 billion, or $20,000 each, in reparations and a formal apology for Japanese Americans interned during World War II. No reparations are offered in the measures apologizing for discrimination against Chinese immigrants.

In 2008, the House issued an apology to African Americans “on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow.” The Senate passed a similar resolution a year later.

In California, the Legislature in 2009 passed a resolution apologizing for the state’s discrimination against Chinese immigrants.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a cosponsor of the U.S. Senate resolution, said Friday she hopes the resolution will serve to “enlighten those who may not be aware of this regrettable chapter in our history and bring closure to the families whose loved ones live through this difficult time.”

“British passport forms to get same-sex parents option”

Taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15150526

October 3, 2011

New forms including “parent one” and “parent two” alongside “mother” and “father” are expected to be brought in by the end of the year. The Home Office says the additional terms will ensure passports are issued safely to the right person. Gay rights groups say the current form is “discriminatory” but family values campaigners say the changes denigrate the roles of mothers and fathers.

The proposals also include sex-free passports to allow transgender people to opt out of identifying themselves as either male or female.

Sam Dick, head of policy at gay rights group Stonewall said: “These changes simply reflect the realities of modern life for families – making it clearer for same-sex parents applying for passports for their children and more straightforward for the officials who process them.”

Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: “To speak of ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two’ denigrates the place of both fathers and mothers. ”Fathers and mothers are not interchangeable but have quite distinct roles to play in the care and nurture of their children.”

An Identity and Passport Service (IPS) spokeswoman said: “It is essential that any parent provides the necessary information on their status as parents or guardians when applying for a passport on behalf of their child. ”This protects the interests of the child and ensures that IPS are able to issue passports securely and safely to the right person. ”The passport application form is therefore being updated to incorporate same-sex parents.”

A similar change was implemented in America earlier this year.

Rea Carey

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director Rea Carey says a tragic death 16 years ago continues to fuel her fight to ensure the “T” in LGBT is silent no more.

Taken from: http://www.advocate.com/News/News_Features/Injustice_at_Every_Turn/

When I was a young person living in Washington, D.C., in 1995, a well-known local hairstylist was driving home one night and her car hit a tree. Paramedics rushed to the scene and cut off her clothes in an attempt to provide lifesaving medical care.  When they saw that Tyra Hunter was transgender, the medic swore at Ms. Hunter and stopped all medical treatment.

Stopped all medical treatment.

Tyra Hunter died later that night, and today, the discrimination and abuse that caused Tyra Hunter’s entirely preventable death are still firmly in place. I could not help but think of Tyra when I read the following comments that are part of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality’s just-released report, “Injustice at Every Turn.”

“The fear of being the victim of a hate crime has also meant that I haven’t lived completely freely; I know that if people on the street knew that I was born female, I’d be at risk of violence or harassment.”

“People are suffering in my school. There are so many trans kids that just can’t come out because they are afraid.”

“I have been harassed and physically assaulted on the street. One time, I didn’t go to the hospital until I went home, changed [out of feminine] clothes, and then went to the emergency room in male mode. I had a broken collarbone as a result of that attack.”

These are the words of transgender and gender-nonconforming Americans, and sadly, their experiences are not uncommon. The hunger to be visible, to share experiences of harm and resiliency is notable, as this became the largest ever study of its kind. A total of 6,500 transgender and gender-nonconforming people from all 50 states and several territories shared with us their experiences of discrimination.

The data we collected was shocking. I know firsthand, from my friends and my work at the Task Force, that discrimination remains a tragic fact of life for far too many in our community. I know that if we do not act in stereotypical “male” or “female” ways, many take this nonconformity as an open invitation to harass or act violently toward us. Even with all I have seen over the years, the picture coming out of our study is deeply disturbing. Transgender individuals live in poverty at nearly four times the national rate. They are twice as likely to be unemployed. Over 25% reported that they had lost a job due to their transgender identity. They are twice as likely to be homeless, four times more likely to be HIV-positive, and perhaps most appallingly, 41% have attempted suicide, more than 26 times the rate (1.6%) of the general population. These are not problems that any of us who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or civil rights-minded, progressive, or feminist can afford to ignore.

People of color consistently experienced the greatest degree of discrimination, especially African-Americans. They had four times the unemployment rate of the nation, and had over 40 times the general population rate of HIV infection. This must stop. Let us all make this the moment that the civil rights, progressive, feminist, and LGBT rights movements wake up and change the way we do our work. No longer can the needs of transgender and gender-variant people in our society, in our organizations, and in our communities be pushed to the side. It is literally killing people and we must work together to stop it.

While great strides have been made for equality in the last several decades, most recently with the powerful repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the last letter in “LGBT” has simply not seen the same progress. Indeed, the successful repeal of DADT will still not allow out transgender people to serve in the military. Sadly, even some members of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community turn our backs on transgender people. And yet our struggle is one that is shared. Each of us has a gender identity and gender expression. and those of us who diverge from the norm are subject to the same discrimination. Feminine gay men and masculine or androgynous lesbians are far more likely to be discriminated against than gay men and lesbians whose behavior and appearance conforms more to societal norms about how men and women “should” act. Simply by being gay, lesbian, or bisexual, we are breaking society’s rules about what it means to be a man or woman.

Transgender people face this same prejudice, yet taken to the life-threatening extreme. This is about all of us. For those who do not think so, I hope this information will be a wake-up call and an opportunity to examine their feelings and yes, biases, that prevent our community from uniting in the ways we must to achieve equal treatment for all of us.

This report is a clarion call to all of us, and its findings cannot be ignored. We must stand against all forms of discrimination and end injustice for all LGBT people, wherever it exists. Together, we can eliminate this prejudice and work toward a society where we are all truly free to be who we are. There is a role for each of us in reckoning with the pervasive inhumanity we’ve documented in this report. Transgender people are discriminated against because they don’t act or look in a way that fits with conventional ideas about gender. All men, women and children – regardless of how they identify – are hurt by these rigid gender codes. They suppress authentic expression throughout our society and negatively impact relationships across gender, as family, friends, coworkers and spouses “police” acceptable gender expression.

If there was a ray of light in our study findings, it is in the resilience of transgender people and their families. Contrary to popular mythology, transgender people often maintain ties with their families of origin and their spouses, partners and children. We found that family acceptance had a protective affect against suicide, HIV, homelessness and other negative consequences of discrimination for study participants. This finding affirms what we know as advocates working on the front lines: families are enormously burdened by the hostile environments their transgender children, spouses and parents are living in, but they press on. They often strain to find a way out of no way.

Over 1,000 people came to Tyra Hunter’s funeral in DC. Her high school shop teacher, her parents, her clients, and her big, extended family. But no medic was ever disciplined or fired because of what happened that night. This report is written to draw a line in the sand against this pervasive inhumanity in our midst. We all need to use this opportunity to change the way we work and live to create a world that affirms the humanity of and empowers transgender people to fully participate in our society. We must all work strenuously and continuously for justice.

Truth With A Camera

I’ve always believed that a camera can do so much more than take a picture; it can capture a memory, tell a story, and even change the world. Here is a group who has harnessed their passion for photojournalism and transformed it into a tool to help change the world, one photo story at a time.

Taken from: http://www.truthwithacamera.org/

“Our mission is to educate photojournalists, not only in current technologies, but in understanding cultural differences and similarities and to contribute to truth, ethics, and social justice. Our goal is to reflect honesty, sensitivity, and intelligence in photojournalism, and to use these as tools to inspire, educate, and promote change in the world around us. Through the workshops, photojournalists will experience international location coverage working with Nonprofits and NGOs and develop an understanding of their social responsibility to provide voice to all members of society while stressing truth and ethics in an effort to bring about social change.”