Shakesville

Another Coverup, Another "Good" Shepherd

[CN: Clergy abuse, rape, rape culture institutional cover-ups.]

In news that will surprise no-one, evidence has emerged that Los Angeles Catholic officials actively conspired to cover up rape by pedophile priests as late as 1987:

The records show that Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony, who is now retired, and his top adviser on child sex abuse cases, Monsignor Thomas Curry, worked with other Church officials in 1987 to send priests accused of abuse out of state to avoid prosecution, the newspaper said.
Mahony and Curry also tried to keep pedophile priests from confessing to therapists who would be obligated to report the crimes, the newspaper said, citing the records, which were released on Los Angeles Times' website.
Curry even suggested in 1987 they send a pedophile priest to "a lawyer who is also a psychiatrist" to put the priest's "reports under the protection of privilege," the Times reported. In another 1987 case, Curry cautioned Mahony against returning a child abuser to the Los Angeles parishes where he molested children.
"There are numerous - maybe twenty - adolescents and young adults that (the priest) was involved with in a first degree felony manner," Curry wrote of one accused molester. "The possibility of one of these seeing him is simply too great."

Mahoney, as noted, is now retired. Curry now serves as Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where he supervises the Sanata Barbara Pastoral Region. In addition, he chairs the USCCB's Comittee on Education. He also fancies himself a Constitutional scholar.

Needless to say, I cannot fathom why anyone would give a tiddle for the legal, constitutional or moral opinions of a man who actively used his knowledge of the law to shield pedophiles. Nor why you'd want as an overseer of Catholic education a moral reprobate who callously fretted more about teenagers identifying their rapist than about their possible re-victimization.

And I truly, truly wonder how long the Roman Catholic church structure can continue when its worst administrators keep getting re-assigned and promoted, without an apparent jot of awareness that these are not men who should be in charge of vulnerable human beings.

Hint: the crozier is supposed to be used against the wolves, gentlemen. Not the sheep.

[Commenting note: Please take care in comments to distinguish between ordinary Catholics and actions and opinions of their leadership.]

Gif of the Day

Welp, this is pretty much the greatest thing in the history of things:

image of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Speaker John Boehner sitting in a row at a table eating during the inaugural; Boehner says something and M. Obama rolls her eyes and shakes her head

image of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Speaker John Boehner sitting in a row at a table eating during the inaugural; Boehner says something and M. Obama rolls her eyes and shakes her head

Speaker Boehner: Something something blah blah fart.

President Obama: Ha ha ha.

First Lady Obama: ALL THE SHADE.

[Via Gawker.]

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Beyoncé: "The Star-Spangled Banner"

In The News

[Content note: war, homophobia, gun violence]

Tuesday News and Trinkets:

The people at Drudge are pissed!

Congressman receives threats from gun advocates warning him to watch his back.

This is neat: Chester E. McDuffee's patented diving suit.

Prince Harry admits to killing insurgents while piloting his Apache helicopter in Afghanistan.

Unrelated: MPs to plan for gay royals marrying same-sex partners and their children becoming king or queen.

Tide detergent: Works on tough stains and can now also be traded for crack.

Rhode Island's House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote and pass a marriage equality bill today.

Presdential hopeful (LOLOLOL!) Rick Santorum blames American downfall on The Gay Agenda™ in colleges.

NASA plans hedgehog invasion of Mars moon Phobos.

Random Nerd Nostalgia: Batwoman's Judo Style

I like to think that the editors had some vague memory of ju-jutsu suffragettes. but I'm not counting on it.

Roe at 40

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Access to legal abortion nationwide is increasingly more difficult, as anti-choicers chip away at the right guaranteed by Roe, attempting to render the decision a hollow statute and create a situation for millions of women and trans* and/or genderqueer men in which abortion is technically legal but functionally inaccessible.

This strategy is in direct contravention of the will of the majority. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has found that a majority of USians "believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases" and that "seven in 10 respondents oppose Roe v. Wade being overturned."

The notion that a majority of the US wants to limit access to abortion and/or criminalize it altogether is flatly false.

In pursuit of an honest national conversation about abortion, the Guttmacher Institute has put together a collection of infographics "that distill a wealth of information into five snapshots about abortion in the United States today." I am sharing them with permission.

U.S. women who have abortions:

infographic showing that by age 45, about half of US women will have had an unintended pregnancy, and nearly 1 in 3 will have had an abortion; 69% of them are economically disadvantaged, 60% already have a child, and 58% are in their 20s

infographic showing that by age 45, about half of US women will have had an unintended pregnancy, and nearly 1 in 3 will have had an abortion; 69% of them are economically disadvantaged, 60% already have a child, and 58% are in their 20s

Abortion in the U.S. has become concentrated among poor women:

infographic showing numbers detailing that abortion has become concentrated among poor women: abortion is an economic issue

infographic showing numbers detailing that abortion has become concentrated among poor women: abortion is an economic issue

Racial & ethnic disparities in reproductive health outcomes:

infographic showing racial and ethnic disparities among abortion-seekers, which reflect broader social and economic disparities: black and hispanic women are more likely to have unintended pregnancies, and higher rates of abortion and unplanned births than white women

infographic showing racial and ethnic disparities among abortion-seekers, which reflect broader social and economic disparities: black and hispanic women are more likely to have unintended pregnancies, and higher rates of abortion and unplanned births than white women

How do women pay for abortions?

infographic showing that most women who have abortions have health coverage, but nonetheless must pay for abortions out-of-pocket

infographic showing that most women who have abortions have health coverage, but nonetheless must pay for abortions out-of-pocket

Barriers to abortion access:

infographic showing that 87% of US counties lack an abortion provider and 35% of the population of US women live in those counties

infographic showing that 87% of US counties lack an abortion provider and 35% of the population of US women live in those counties

In his inauguration address, President Obama said: "We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own."

The promise to the nation's girls and women that we have the same chance to succeed as their male cohorts, that we are free, and that we are equal, cannot and will never be fulfilled as long as women and other people with uteri are not given agency over their own bodies. Control over our reproduction, over when and if we choose to reproduce, is an essential piece of girls' and women's opportunity, freedom, and equality.

This is important for privileged women, and it becomes increasingly critical for women whose identities have multiple points of marginalization, the prejudices against any of which are used to justify less access to healthcare: Women of color, poor women, women with disabilities, fat women, migrant women—which is neither a comprehensive nor mutually exclusive list.

There is no trickle-down feminism. The denial of access to abortion is not waged equally, and (re)building access to abortion across the country does not have a universal strategy. It is a legal issue; it is an economic issue; it is a social issue; it is a cultural issue; it is a religious issue; it is an educational issue; it is a justice issue. We must concern ourselves with its every aspect, to fulfill the nation's promise to its girls and women.

Forty years after Roe, what we know more clearly than ever is that Roe is still necessary, and that Roe is not enough.

On Bei Bei Shuai

by Shaker Angeline

[Content Note: Self-harm; reproductive coercion.]

In 2010, at eight months pregnant, Bei Bei Shuai attempted to commit suicide but survived after friends persuaded her to seek medical attention. Doctors initially believed that both Bei Bei and the fetus would survive, and Bei Bei gave birth via Caesarean section. However, the baby was subsequently taken off life support after she was found to have a massive brain haemorrhage. Distraught, Shuai spent the following month recovering and grieving in a psychiatric ward. Shortly afterwards, the prosecutor, Terry Curry, charged Bei Bei with murder and attempted foeticide under an Indiana law designed to protect women from violent partners intent on causing a miscarriage. If convicted, Bei Bei could face between 45 and 65 years in jail.

I've been reading Shakesville for years. I've largely been silent—I've read nearly every post, but could count the number of comments I've left on one hand. I've chosen to write this guest post because Bei Bei Shuai's case truly exemplifies the need for a multifaceted understanding of social justice.

This story highlights the many ways that oppression along various axes interact and reinforce each other.

I don't believe it's a coincidence that the prosecution chose to take up this case against a Chinese migrant who had previously been hospitalised for mental illness or that the prosecutor has been particularly aggressive in attempting to intimidate and silence Shuai and her lawyers. I imagine Curry thought that she would be an easy target and easy to intimidate. I like to think that he's found himself shocked by the amount of coverage the case has received and the support given to Bei Bei. I'm proud to be one more person lending the strength of my voice to hers and thank Melissa for lending me the space to do so.

Curry himself noted that Bei Bei would have benefited from access to mental health services before her suicide attempt. I can think of no better way to ensure that people with mental illnesses do not seek care than instilling fear that they will be penalised with jail for their behaviour. Of course this is putting aside the complete lack of compassion that would lead Curry to acknowledge that what Bei Bei needed was health care and decide to file a spurious murder case against her instead.

Many of the articles that have been written about this case highlight the danger that this opens the way for pregnant women to be charged with crimes for any behaviour that might harm the fetus, but fewer acknowledge the extent to which this is already happening. While this is the first time the law in Indiana has been used against a woman due to a suicide attempt, it's far from the first time a woman has been charged with murder after the fetus she was carrying died.

A recently released report (pdf) details the growing trend in the US of women being denied basic human rights due to being pregnant. Unsurprisingly, the study found that women of color and poor women were most likely to be affected. The report states:

Lack of documentation also makes it difficult to evaluate what the likely implications of such things as personhood measures are and whether they pose threats beyond recriminalizing abortion. A need remains, then, to document the cases, identify which women have been targeted, and determine the legal and public health implications of these arrests, detentions, and forced interventions. We report on more than four hundred such cases that have taken place in forty-four states, the District of Columbia, and federal jurisdictions from 1973 to 2005.

The report also acknowledges that these statistics likely underestimate the true impacts of these laws by a substantial amount.

Bei Bei's case is ongoing and she will go to trial in April 2013. Her conviction would extend the criminalisation of pregnancy that much further. If you'd like to read more about the case as it progresses or donate to the Bei Bei Shuai Defense Fund, you can do so here.

Today in Guns

[Content Note: Guns; violence.]

Saturday was the first annual National Gun Appreciation Day. It went great, obviously.

MSNBC: 5 accidentally shot at gun shows in North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana.

Five people were wounded in accidents at gun shows in North Carolina, Ohio and Indiana on Saturday, according to authorities.

In Raleigh, N.C., authorities said three people were wounded when a loaded shotgun accidentally discharged at the Dixie Gun and Knife Show at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. ...The three victims, Janet Hoover, Linwood Hester and Jake Alderman, were hit, respectively, in the right torso, left hand and right hand, WNCN reported. They were taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

...In Medina, Ohio, an exhibitor at a local gun show was opening a box containing a gun when the weapon went off, striking his partner, who was sitting next to him, NBC station WKYC of Cleveland reported. The victim suffered non-life threatening injuries in the arm and thigh and was taken to a hospital.

...In Indianapolis, state police said a 54-year-old man was loading his .45 caliber semi-automatic gun when he shot himself in the hand, The Associated Press reported.

In other news:

* A 15-year-old in New Mexico is in custody as the primary suspect in the murder of his parents and three younger siblings, who were "fatally shot multiple times with a 'military-style' assault rifle and other weapons."

* A 14-year-old in Georgia "unintentionally shot and killed his 15-year-old brother early Saturday morning while playing with his mother's gun, according to police."

* A man in Texas shot and killed his estranged wife and then killed himself at their 16-year-old daughter's birthday party.

That is not a complete list. It's just the stories I happened to read.

The NRA argues that it's not guns that kill people, but people. And that in accidental shootings, it's not the guns, but irresponsible gun ownership.

Yet, despite the evidence of numerous dangerous and irresponsible gun owners, the NRA will not support reform that creates higher barriers to gun ownership. What reason is there to refuse to support compulsory training, licensing, registration, and periodic checks, just like there is to own and operate a vehicle, if you actually give a shit about keeping guns away from dangerous and irresponsible owners?

Open Thread

image of a happy baby elephant playing in a waterfall

Hosted by a baby elephant.

President Obama's Second Inaugural Address

Transcript as provided by the White House Office of the Press Secretary:

President Barack Obama: Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional — what makes us American — is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they've never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. (Applause.) The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

And for more than two hundred years, we have.

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers.

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune.

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today's world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people. (Applause.)

This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. (Applause.) An economic recovery has begun. (Applause.) America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together. (Applause.)

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. (Applause.) We believe that America's prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own. (Applause.)

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. (Applause.) For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.

We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. (Applause.) They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. (Applause.)

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. (Applause.) Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.

The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise. That's how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure — our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snow-capped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That's what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. (Applause.) Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. (Applause.) Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war; who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends — and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully — not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. (Applause.)

America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe. And we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa, from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice — not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth. (Applause.)

It is now our generation's task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — (applause) — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity — (applause) — until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.

That is our generation's task — to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time. (Applause.)

For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. (Applause.) We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today's victories will be only partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction. And we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.

They are the words of citizens and they represent our greatest hope. You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country's course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time — not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals. (Applause.)

Let us, each of us, now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

Thank you. God bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America. (Applause.)

Dr. King's Dream

I Have a Dream

[Voices singing "We Shall Overcome."]

Intro: At this time, I have the honor to present to you the moral leader of our nation. I have the pleasure to present to you Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Applause.]

Dr. King: I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Blog Note

As today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US, we're taking the day off. See you tomorrow!

Open Thread

image of a lion cub in a tree

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Happy Inauguration Day!

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...

President Barack Obama (as First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha look on): I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...

Roberts: ...that I will faithfully execute...

Obama: ...that I will faithfully execute...

Roberts: ...the office of the President of the United States...

Obama: ...the office of the President of the United States...

Roberts: ...and will, to the best of my ability...

Obama: ...and will, to the best of my ability...

Roberts: ...preserve, protect, and defend...

Obama: ...preserve, protect, and defend...

Roberts: ...the Constitution of the United States...

Obama: ...the Constitution of the United States...

Roberts: ...so help you God?

Obama: So help me God.

Roberts: Congratulations, Mr. President.

[they shake hands and smile at each other]

Obama: Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice. Thank you so much. [applause; the President kisses the First Lady] Thank you, sweetie. [he turns to Malia] Hey!

Malia: Hey!

[they hug and exchange a few brief words; he turns to Sasha]

Obama: I did it.

Sasha: You didn't mess it up. [a reference to the President having to do repeat the oath in 2009, because he and Chief Justice Roberts talked over each other; the President laughs]

Obama: [turning to the small crowd and waving] All right. Thank you, everybody.

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Good News

Midnight has been adopted.

I don't know by whom, but the humane society updated their FB page with a happy announcement that he's been taken home. I thought everyone who asked for a follow-up would like to know. Yay!

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The Virtual Pub Is Open

image of a pub Photoshopped to be named 'The Beloved Community Pub'

[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]

Belly up to the bar,
and be in this space together.

Home in The South: Notes of a Non-Native Daughter

So some U.S. liberals living in blue states who wonder why progressive people might choose to live in the dreaded "Red States." Why don't we leave? Do we want to? Wouldn't our lives be better? And these are not just any old progressives, but smart ones who work for Rachel Maddow.

Two great responses come from kchapmangibbons and the wonderful scATX. I encourage you to read both entries. In particular, they address why these questions and the assumptions behind them get tiresome, fast. I found myself nodding along in many places.

In other places however, I didn't identify, because I'm not from here. But I am still at "home" here.

"Home" is a complicated concept. Many of us grew up in homes where we were loved, but we still found moving out a relief. Others grew up in homes seeped in unhappiness, yet we might have found there were some things we missed when we left. Home is complicated like that. As adults, we try to make homes we can love, but that doesn't make them perfect. For some people, the South is not a place they can ever truly make a home, and that's okay. For myself, though, I'm trying to put down some roots and grow in this Southern soil where I have been planted.

I am not a child of the U.S. South. I grew up in, and was shaped by, the U.S. Midwest and Canadian Maritimes. (Yes, that means my accent sticks out like a sore thumb. Or perhaps a strange thumb-finger hybrid. I dunno). It's not my culture nor my landscape, although there are ways in which I can relate to both. I come from rural places, from generations of farmers and other people accustomed to making their living from the environment. And I like those rural places. I like being outdoors, having a garden, and I love living in a place where that doesn't mark me as a freak, but "just folks."

Like any home, though, I have my complaints about it. ~~Perhaps~~ Definitely I'll never get used to the climate. Culturally, I'm always going to be marked apart by what my boss calls my "Canadian directness" in getting to the point of things. (My directness is bilingual, I guess, with a fondness for curling and Tim Horton's.) I certainly won't ever get used to the particular gendered and racinated ways that patriarchy expresses itself here. But you know that? Elements of patriarchy are everywhere. Let's not even pretend that certain states or nations don't have patriarchal issues.

At core, this is where my job is--my career. I've spent multiple years building relationships with students, alumni, colleagues, and community. I don't drop those connections easily. My colleagues are mostly awesome, and any academic knows that working in a department where people actually get along is worth its weight in gold. And frankly, jobs are hard to come by, even if I wanted to leave. The vicissitudes of the academic market are a matter for another post, but short version: I know people who live in "blue states" who are frankly envious of my location.

I've come to love the funky little corners of my city, where there's music and proper downtown parades and First Fridays and an awesome used bookstore. I also love the historic sites and unique cultures that surround me. If I didn't live here, would I have ever visited the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's planning center? Eaten boiled peanuts? Partied on Beale Street? Seen where the Trail of Tears began? Grown blackeyed peas and cushaw squash in my own garden? Maybe. But doubtful.

I've made friends and gained loved ones. Even family. And I've lost a few, too. I miss my family elsewhere; I wish I were closer to my parents, my niece and nephew, and many other loved ones. But I know if I moved, I would also ache for family here. There are progressives here, too, people working their asses off to make a better world--and by and large, my progressive friends are native Southerners. Southern culture is not my culture, but I understand that it does not axiomatically mean hateful, conservative culture. The same soil that nourishes bigotry also sprouts the seeds of generosity, social justice, and love.

Is it depressing to live in a state where gerrymandering ensures GOP rule? Oh HELL yes. I'm tired of being employed by a state whose dominant political party wants to regulate my uterus, constantly dock my pay, and scorn me when I'm unhappy about it. It's wearying. But you know what else is wearying? Those fellow progressives in blue states questioning why or how I even exist.

Home is complicated. This is my home, if not my native land. And I love my complicated, imperfect home.

Prepare the Fainting Couches

[Content Note: Terrorism; violence.]

Hayes Brown at Think Progress—New Study Highlights Threat from Far Right-Wing Groups in the United States:

A new study from a think tank connected to the West Point Military Academy highlights the threat of violent far-right movements in the United States, leading to the conclusion that, while diverse in in their causes, they are similar in their use of violence to achieve their aims.

West Point's Combatting Terrorism Center was founded in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and has primarily focused its research on international terrorist threats. Titled "Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America's Violent Far-Right," this new report instead looks as the risk that domestic groups pose to the U.S. Breaking down these groups into three categories — the Racist/White Supremacy Movement, the Anti-Federalist Movement, and the Christian Fundamentalist Movement — allows the study to examine the background ideologies and methods of each subset thoroughly, opposed to lumping them all together as most studies have.

Each of the groupings in the study represent competing ideological views, with none of them likely to cooperate in achieving their aims. The chances that each of these groups will use violence also varies. What they share, however, is a use of violence against their chosen targets — be it minority races or abortion clinics — to draw attention to and emphasize their given ideology.

Naturally, conservatives are already refuting the study with great comebacks like: "The $64,000 dollar question is when will the Combating Terrorism Center publish their study on real left-wing terrorists like the Animal Liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front, and the Weather Underground?"

That rhetorical is almost TOO perfect.

I don't know what else I can say about rightwing eliminationist violence that I haven't already said fully one million times. A lack of empathy allowed to fester unchallenged will inevitably become a violent urge. We cannot indulge this toxic intolerance with narratives of "both sides have their extremists" for a moment more.