Walmart Worker Trampled

Walmart in Valley Stream


Read Yahoo Article

I hate Walmart. I also hate Black Friday. That's why Walmart would be the last place on earth you would have found me yesterday: even if I hadn't been hibernating at home working on my end-of-semester projects, I most certainly would not have been busting down the door at Walmart.

While shopping is a hobby or source of enjoyment for many women, I am not one of them. Part of the reason I don't enjoy shopping might be a focus on living simply that my family and Mennonite community passed on to me. Part of it might be personal preference - while I don't mind shopping in an uncrowded store, I detest shopping amidst throngs of rabid bargain-hunters who will literally steal something out of your cart if you turn your back.

Part of the American dream that I don't understand or endorse is this desire to accumulate as much STUFF as possible. I heard on the news recently that flat screen televisions are the number one item being stolen from people's homes - they recommended positioning your TV so it could not be seen through your front window. It seems like a lot of Americans measure how successful they are by how much cool "stuff" they has, but I prefer the motto "you can't take it with you." The people in this article became so obsessed by the STUFF they could buy on sale at Walmart that they literally took a human life in their charge through the entrance.

I would love it if everyone shopping at Walmart on Friday had to live in a mud hut in a Third World country for a week before Black Friday. Or at the least, work behind the counter at a retail store themselves (preferably at Walmart!) for a week. I have lived in a poor country (although admittedly not in a mud hut), and I have worked in retail over Christmas. So I know that a lot of times the person working behind the counter is seen as "lower" or "less capable" or "less intelligent" than the customer because I have been treated that way many times. Many customers take the motto "The customer is always right" to mean that "The customer has more rights and privileges as a human being than the sales person."

The problem with these Walmart customers is that they have lost perspective of what is truly important - and tragically, the loss of a human life did not even jar them out of their hedonistic dream. Ironically, the vast majority are buying Christmas gifts; because trampling down another human in a quest to buy a flat screen TV for your husband is what this season of peace and goodwill is all about.

Hostage Situation in Mumbai

Candlelight Vigil in Mumbai




I heard about this on the news driving home from school one night. Just another example of what extremists will do to further their cause of hatred and divisiveness. I hate that innocent people suffer and die because these militants think that they can further their cause by mass destruction. What is truly tragic is that now a two-year-old child will have to grow up an orphan because his parents (who were 28 and 29, a Jewish rabbi and his wife) were victims of these terrorists.

Another related story I heard on the news interviewed Vikram Chandra who wrote a novel and one of the storylines involved a terrorist attack in Mumbai. Interesting how in this case fiction and non-fiction reflect each other. The terrorists in the book were actually Hindu (unlike the terrorists in real life, who were Muslim), but I thought one thing that Chandra said was very interesting: that the extremists on either side of the fence need each other to survive, and in a way, they only exist to support the other.

Singing about Injustice

"God of the Bible, God in the Gospel,
hope seen in Jesus, hope yet to come,
you are our center, daylight or darkness,
freedom or prison, you are our home.

God in our struggles, God in our hunger,
suffering with us, taking our part,
still you empower us, mothering Spirit,
feeding, sustaining, from your own heart.

Those without status, those who are nothing,
you have made royal, gifted with rights,
chosen as partners, midwives of justice,
birthing new systems, lighting new lights.

Not by your finger, not by your anger
will our world order change in a day,
but by your people, fearless and faithful,
small paper lanterns, lighting the way.

Hope we must carry, shining and certain
through all our turmoil, terror, and loss,
bonding us gladly one to the other,
till our world changes facing the cross."

This is a song we sang in my church on Thanksgiving day. We meet for a short time to sing, read scripture, and reflect on what we are thankful for. I have to say that faced with all the injustice in our society - and in every society - I do think that the true Christian way offers an alternative perspective that values and validates those whom society looks down upon.

I remember reading a book titled The Upside Down Kingdom for a college class I took years ago; the premise of the book is that Jesus turns the standards of our society upside down. According to the teachings of Jesus, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Blessed are those who mourn, who hunger, who thirst, who are persecuted. The things that this world values least are ultimately of the most value.

This song speaks to God's actions in our world, and verse 2 and three (in italics) specifically speak about God changing the world order through his followers. I'm not saying you have to be a follower of Jesus to bring about social change - there are many who have made significant contributions to this world who aren't Christian (Ghandi, Greg Mortenson); I'm saying that the inverse SHOULD be true, that if you are a Christian you should be an advocate for social change. Unfortunately, it seems that this is not always - or even usually - the case. Most Christians in our society benefit from the current status quo and so they want to keep it that way to protect their own privileges.

Jeffrey Stephens Murder

Akron Protesters

Click to hear WKSU story and view larger pictures

Looks like this is a police murder based on CFAWB - Carrying a Fire Arm While Black. Apparently this is a slightly more serious crime than DWB - Driving While Black - which Danica got stopped for earlier this year. I know that the details aren't exactly clear in this case, and that the police have been acquitted, but I agree with Stephens' friends and family that justice has not been served.

For starters, to get to the root of the problem, why are African Americans living in poor neighborhoods that are fraught with violence? The fact that many minorities, specifically blacks and Hispanics, live in some of the poorest conditions is a pervasive injustice in our society, and something that should concern all of us - not just those living in poverty.

Secondly, what are the chances that the police would have shot the man who was defending his own home if he had been white? In other words, if this had been a white neighborhood and Jeffrey Stephens, Sr. had been white, would he be dead today? It seems less than likely to me - even if the neighborhood had been equally poor and violent.

This is because many Americans, and yes, many police officers, operate on the stereotype that a black man with a gun is a criminal - while a white man with a gun is defending his home. I think the protesters in this case aren't just protesting the shooting of an innocent man, Jeffrey Stephens, but also protesting the unjust stereotype in an unjust society that probably contributed to his death.

Pink Sari Renegades

Sampat Pal Devi, head of the Gulabi (pink) Gang

Click to read the BBC article

In a day and age where superheros are considered passe or nonexistent, the Gulabi Gang and leader Sampat Pal Devi show that not only DO superheros exist, but they still wear cool uniforms and fight injustice, Robinhood-style.

This gang of women has banded together in one of the poorest regions in India to stick up for those people who can't stick up for themselves - the untouchables, and specifically women from the lower casts. Women are typically married off at a very young age - Sampat Devi was married off at age 9 and bore her first child at age 13 - and domestic and sexual violence are common. The pink sari gang will often take justice into their own hands when the law doesn't do anything to protect the poor, or sometimes they just make sure the wrongdoer is humiliated for his actions.

Sampat Devi, like Greg Mortenson in Three Cups of Tea, is one person who has stood up to the injustices in society and is making a difference in her society, especially in the lives of women. Her gang is not afraid to stand up to police, and they have beaten police for holding an untouchable man without charges. While I don't agree with all of the Gulabi Gang's tactics (as a pacifist, I don't think I could ever be a part of a group that used violence as a form of retaliation), I admire the cause of fighting corruption and injustice, and I hope that Sampat Devi and the pink gang continue their fight.

More Racist Hate Crimes

Read LA Times article about white extremists

Well, I guess there is a flipside to America electing its first black president: not only does it ignite hope in people who believe in liberty and civil rights, it also ignites fear and hatred in people who believe in the power of white privilege. These people feel threatened by the idea of a black president so much that they will go any extremes to get their message out.

I feel so angry and personally affronted by these crimes that you would think I didn't have white skin myself. In fact, I really truly wish that I didn't when I see things like this. I despise my own race for committing these heinous acts. I know this probably is not a helpful response - responding to anger with more anger usually only makes the situation worse. But I truly don't know a way to productively respond to these messages of hate and intolerance.

They say that true love casts out all fear - so I suppose the best way to respond to hate crimes would be out of love. How do you respond to hate with love? This is something that many of my heroes have done: Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa. But I think that I would be more inclined to follow the lead of Sampat Pal Devi of the Pink Sari Gang and go out seeking vengeance, or at least humiliation, on these perpetrators.

Is one the better way? Obviously most of the superheroes in Hollywood don't set out to transform the bad guys through love and peaceful non-resistance; superheroes set out to punish and eliminate them for their evil deeds. Given the choice, I would say that Jesus is a better model for true reconciliation. But my human nature wants to put on a pink sari and beat down these idiots!

Hate Crime on Long Island

Coffin of Marcelo Lucero in Gualaceo, Equador

Click here to read the story

The other day I heard an NPR story about the money our government is spending to construct a border fence between Mexico and Arizona. Tell me, why are we spending all this money to keep illegal immigrants out instead of spending money to provide programs and education for the ones who are here?

I don't understand the idea of an "exclusive" America where some people belong and others don't. Apparently it is always the white people who belong. Well, in about 20 years whites will no longer have a majority, so will we still be the people trying to keep out people of color?

I thought America was supposed to be the land of the free where anyone could come to find life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I'm not sure exactly what America I'm thinking of, because the America in this article is one where people who were here "first" (as in, a couple hundred years earlier than current immigrants - but a few thousand years later than the first immigrants) feel justified in committing heinous crimes against those who are new to the country, whose skin is a different color, and who speak a different language.

The Hispanic immigrants who are here have no one to turn to for support but their own family members, and sometimes a church community. They see the police as the enemy since they enforce the immigration laws. The government provides no support to illegal immigrants (that I know of). How can you survive in such a hostile environment? Obviously, with hate crimes such as the killing in this article, survival is indeed a problem.

Times are changing, though, and since our economy has began shifting the immigration has gone down 42% Eventually America is going to realize that the cultural and linguistic diversity brought by these immigrants is a rich contribution to our nation's identity - but by then will it be too late????

Proposition 8

Proponents of Proposition 8 Celebrate
Click here to read LA Times article

"Research and polling showed that many voters were against gay marriage, but afraid that saying so would make them seem 'discriminatory' or 'not cool.'"

If Proposition 8 passed in California, what chance does the rest of the country ever have of establishing equal rights for gays and lesbians? California, which is probably considered the most progressive state in the U.S., passed a measure prohibiting gay marriage by 52% on November 4. While I am ecstatic about Obama's victory, I am also saddened and disappointed by this step back for the GLBTQ community. Although they are determined to fight it, the results of this election show that most people see this as a moral issue rather than a civil rights issue, and as a Christian, I could not disagree more. I do see marriage as a moral issue - committing to remain faithful to one person and doing so is a holy alliance. But I see the prohibition of marriage to certain people as a civil rights issue. Why prohibit someone from wanting to make a lifelong commitment that is respected by the rest of society?

I have not always been as progressive as I am now. I was raised in a conservative homophobic community, by conservative parents (one of whom is homophobic). In college, I would have been skeptical about accepting a gay or lesbian lifestyle, at least as a Christian lifestyle. This was also before I had any gay or lesbian friends. When I moved to Portland, I became friends with a number of people who were gay or lesbian, and I realized a few things: 1) most of them did not choose this lifestyle 2) most of them were not abused in their past and became homosexual as a result (a belief held by many people who see homosexuality as wrong) 3) most of them were just like me - in their 20s, looking for a good time, trying to make friends and find love. Or at least sex, if they couldn't find the other.

I think that heterosexism is still an acceptable form of discrimination in our society. I notice this in Ohio where we live - most of my friends who have grown up in this area, and especially those who still live here, tend to be against gay marriage. Or, as they would see it, for one man one woman. It's not an issue I discuss much - especially with people that go to our church. I would love to be part of a liberal congregation that is against Proposition 8, or at least divided on the issue. But if that issue ever came up for vote around here I know that 99% of the people I attend church with would be hard-core in favor of it.

I included the quote at the top because I think it's interesting that people in California are positioned in opposition to myself; I favor gay marriage, but I'm afraid to speak up because people might think I'm not a Christian, or "uncool." What is this cool factor? I guess all of us want to be accepted and loved - which brings me back to the original issue. Gays and lesbians just want to be accepted and loved in our society; no one is out to destroy marriage or corrupt young children. GLBTQ people just want the same rights as everyone else: the right to get married, to have a family, to be seen as normal, to be "cool."

Al Qaeda Response to Obama

Click to read CNN Article

Wow! Just reading some of the comments on this YouTube video is enough to get me riled up. Don't get me wrong - I am for equal treatment of people from all religious backgrounds. What I dislike are religious extremists, whether they are right-wing Christians or Islamic fundamentalists. In my opinion, both members of these groups share more in common with each other than they do with moderate members of their own groups (ironically, this similarity seems to result in them hating each other MORE!).

These kind of polarizing remarks are made not with the intent of unifying people despite different views but with the intent of creating more divisiveness and hate between different religious and national groups. Ayman al-Zawahiri probably spews these kinds of insults in order to make sure that HIS power as an Islamic fundamentalist isn't threatened by more moderate Muslims who might even see Barack Obama as an American leader who could reach out more to the Muslim community.

I also take major issue with his assertion that the "Muslims of Afghanistan" will defend themselves against the American soldiers. The Muslims of Afghanistan have no choice! They are forced to live under the corrupt and fundamentalist governing power of Al Qaeda, and most Afghanis are incredibly poor and uneducated because they have been deprived of any kind of government that looks out for the needs of the people other than using them as human artillery to fight the evil West. ARGHH!! And it is people like this second-in-command al-Zawahiri who are at least partially responsible for all the bloodshed, not only of Americans but Afghanis and Iraqis. He is NOT trying to be a voice of diplomacy; instead, he is perpetuating his own twisted religious and political agenda because he would rather see the downfall of Western civilization than he would see his own country become more developed by creating a good relationship with the U.S.

The End of Capitalism?

What is happening to the U.S. auto industry is truly sad and devastating for many U.S. workers. Although Detroit is not that far geographically from Northeast Ohio, I have felt rather isolated from the economic impact of many of these car manufacturers potentially going under - until listening to this Michael Moore interview. He has a way of bringing things home and making them "real" for the average American listener/viewer such as myself (which is probably why he is such a brilliant documentary maker).

Michael Moore makes a good point that the people who are suffering as a result of this economic crash are not the people at the top - not the CEOs who are making 15 million a year. Rather, the people who are suffering are those who worked for these companies for 30 years and are depending on their pension and healthcare plans from these companies in order to retire comfortably. He also makes an interesting argument that those at the top don't really believe in capitalism at all, but socialism - because they are taking handouts for themselves even while their companies are sinking further and further into debt.

I think this disparity between the average auto worker and the CEO of an auto manufacturer demonstrates some of the growing socioeconomic inequalities in our nation. While McCain defines the upper limits of middle income as 10 million, most people in our country scrape by on less than one percent of that - and in many other nations, the lives of Americans living at poverty level looks luxurious. I wish I had a solution to the auto industry crisis - I don't even understand enough about this issue to know what all is at stake. But I am sure of one thing - that if these companies do not survive our economic downturn, even my life in Northeastern Ohio will be effected.

Racist Aftermath

Barack Obama

Click to read about a store in Maine that places bets on Obama's assassination

Frankly, I wish I were more surprised about this than I am. One of my first thoughts when I heard Obama was elected, aside from the elation that we now have a president elect that I respect and admire and trust, was a concern that some crazy nut-job would want to assassinate him. I expressed this fear to my husband even as we were watching Obama give his acceptance speech.

Part of the reason I felt this fear (overlooking the obvious factor that I am a complete worry wart who will obsess about anything - just ask my husband) is the amount of hope and joy that the election of Barack Obama has brought to so many Americans, and specifically so many African Americans. Before the election we were all hush-hush about the issue of race because 1) liberals didn't want the Bradley effect hurting Obama's chances and 2) conservatives didn't want to appear prejudiced by playing the race card. But wow! After Obama won, in a surprisingly short amount of time, the fact that we have an African American president elect became huge overnight news - as well it should have.

Another reason I felt this fear is that Obama reminds me of so many great charismatic leaders in American history who, you guessed it, have been assassinated: JKF, MLK, and Lincoln to name a few. Obama also aligns himself with these kinds of leaders, quoting from MLK and Lincoln in his speeches. Granted, I love the fact that our country has a young, intelligent, liberal, revolutionary (somewhat) leader. But this also reminds me that for all the good he has to offer, there are people in this crazy world who would love to snuff out this hope for our country.

This shop keeper in Maine is just one example - I am sure there are many more. He's just one person who was stupid enough to put up a sign saying "Let's place bets on the assassination of Obama - and hope it happens." How many other freaky racist right-wing fundamentalist nuts are there out there who aren't going to say anything, but secretly plot something? The thought of this scares me. Not just for the loss of human life involved, but for the sake of our country, and all the hopes of countless people that would be crushed. I think loss of hope is one of the most dreadful things - and this is why Obama is so good for our nation; he brings us hope at a time when we need it the most!

Sexual Harrassment in Egypt

Click here to read 400 Teen Boys Arrested for Flirting

How would you like to be arrested for flirting? It seems like there is a hard-to-define line between sexual harassment and "boys being boys." In the case of this article, which takes place in largely Islamic Egypt, I see this as a huge victory for women who, for most of their lives, have to put up with this sort of treatment without any kind of recourse.

On the other hand, it seems that the police jumped from one extreme to the other - going from few sexual harassment convictions to 400 arrests is a pretty broad leap! I would be curious to see where all these charges came from so suddenly, but the article doesn't provide much background information, other than to say many men were arrested on a Muslim holiday.

As a woman, I feel privileged and grateful to live in a place like the U.S. where people are made aware of injustices like sexual harassment and women are given many opportunities to succeed - in education, professionally, and personally. I see a very stark difference between our society and an Islamic society which often tries to keep women in narrowly defined roles with limited opportunities to pursue things outside of these roles.

So, given my limited background knowledge on this article, I have to say that overall I want to say "Yea!" to all these men being held accountable for actions that they probably have been perpetrating for years and never been disciplined for. As a teacher, I see it as an important part of my role to establish clear boundaries and define the line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior for my students.

Internet Suicide

Yahoo Article on Teen that Commit Suicide Online

I can't believe that we live in a day and age when this kind of thing can happen. There are two things that I see as very wrong with this picture: 1) the fact that anyone would want to broadcast their own suicide to an audience, and probably more disturbing, 2) the fact that people would WATCH said suicide live and not report it or do anything to prevent it from happening.

Since Abraham Biggs was being treated for a bipolar disorder, the fact that he was a candidate for suicide is not what makes this such an interesting story. Rather, the fact that he chose to televise the suicide over the Internet is what makes the story noteworthy. In many ways this typifies the urge of teens in modern society (and not just teens, but people of many ages) to broadcast any and every iota of their lives online.

I just joined Facebook a few weeks ago, and so I can testify firsthand to how addicting it is and how much it can govern your lifestyle, instead of the other way around. In my opinion, creating relationships and forging bonds over the internet should be SECONDARY to forming friendships with real people - as apparent in this article, many of those online "friends" are not going to do anything to help you in real life.

That brings me to the most disturbing aspect of this article: how could you watch someone kill themselves by ODing on medication, and then write something like, "he he" or "LOL" when the police show up? Does our society not have good Samaritans any more? I know I am not a saint, and I know that I have turned a blind eye to suffering, but I hope that I would NEVER watch someone die - at their own hand or anyone else's - and not do something to stop it. Unfortunately, I think that this story is most disturbing because it illustrates some ugly aspects of human nature; our self-centeredness and our apathy to suffering, not to mention our modern addiction to entertainment in any form.