Hi friends,
I’ve had a running disagreement with several friends about the value of pursuing all kinds of justice rather than just zeroing in on the biggest justice issues.
This publication launched after the murder of George Floyd and has maintained an intersectional approach because the struggles cannot be teased apart.
The good news is that when we struggle on one front, we often make progress on several. Indigenous farmers in Hawaii are working to salvage native forests from a changing climate and the legacy of colonialism and foreign investment, which brought monocrop industrial farming and toxic pesticides and fertilizers.
“The goal is to knock the empire down and replace those corporate ag guys with something more environmentally sustainable which reflects our values,” said Kekona, who is part of the Indigenous sovereignty movement reconnecting Hawaiians with their lands and traditions.
Monocrop farming has an orderly appearance that many of us associate with agriculture, while the canopy system creates a diverse and chaotic-seeming food forest.
[E]ach plant takes what it needs to thrive, while contributing to the growth and development of its peers and future generations.
That’s how I think of the diverse and chaotic-seeming efforts of justice activists. And the wiffij, I hope, is a little like a food forest for justice education and activation.
When I was making my sign for the March for Our Lives march that I missed on Saturday afternoon, I came across two signs online that made my chest tight:
How dare you push legislation “protecting us” before we’re born but not after the fact
Reproductive justice is part of loving life. This week, Governor Hochul signed several laws to add to existing legislative protections for reproductive health care.
The new measures bolster protections for both residents and out-of-state women seeking abortions with an omnibus measure that would block New York courts from issuing subpoenas in connection with out-of-state abortion proceedings; prohibit extradition of abortion providers unless they are alleged to have fled from the demanding state and provide legal protections for New York abortion providers.
Hochul chose to celebrate the passage of the bills with a signing ceremony and noted that it’s important to show leadership in a hostile political climate.
Abortion Access Front is celebrating another day without the Dobbs opinion:
Adopt a reproductive health clinic that provides abortions.
I remain fascinated with the way that worker struggles intersect with all the other big justice issues. Amazon workers who belong to No Hate at Amazon staged a die-in to protest the sale of anti-trans books during a scheduled pride celebration at the company.
“Amazon does have standing policies against hate speech in its content and technically they say we don’t sell it,” said an organizer with the group, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
When it comes to transphobic materials, like Johnny the Walrus, an allegorical story to show why people should not honor a child’s trans identity, Amazon’s own policies do not apply.
The Amazon group is part of a larger movement of tech workers including Google, Twitter and Facebook employees who have organized with a goal of not just improving working conditions, but influencing broader company policies.
A Florida high school teacher is running a “banned book” drive to in order to purchase and distribute books for summer reading. Adam Tritt, who teaches in Brevard County, is focusing on the books already banned from school libraries as well as those targeted by the local chapter of Moms for Liberty.
Titles include: "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut,"Forever" by Judy Blume, "Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, "All Boys Aren’t Blue" by George Matthew Johnson,"This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson, and graphic novels, "Genderqueer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe and "Maus" by Art Spiegelman.
Support the banned book drive!
“blatantly perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes.”
The decision said the school “has imposed the skirts requirement with the express purpose of telegraphing to children that girls are ‘fragile,’ require protection by boys and warrant different treatment than male students, stereotypes with potentially devastating consequences for young girls.”
In addition to the importance of protecting young people from gender stereotypes, the decision indicates that charter schools which take public subsidies must also respect the children’s rights.
Since I included Billy Collins’s wonderful poem on Monday, it seemed important to remind you that the wiffij is concerned with justice for animals as well as people (read: even if you have a gun at home, it would not be okay to use it to stop the neighbor’s dog from barking).
I consulted a friend and wiffijista, who is also active with Voters For Animal Rights, because I’m not familiar enough with the issue to assess the quality of the bill. My friend explained why she was thrilled by the passage of this legislation.
It states that no dog, cat or rabbit can be sold in any store in New York State. Stores that have been selling live animals can continue to do business selling pet products and working with shelters doing adoptions. All of the animals being sold through these stores come from breeding mills where they are kept in unsanitary conditions and do not receive veterinary care. The breeding animals are constantly impregnated and when they can no longer produce, they are killed. The people buying these animals pay thousands of dollars and often their pets have serious health issues. [P]eople spend thousands of dollars for a designer puppy when there are so many amazing animals in shelters waiting to be adopted.
Dehumanization and the degradation of people and beings that we have learned to see as less valuable are on the same spectrum.
Let’s end the day with Lizzo, who provided a model this week of how to walk the world. One of the reasons that it’s so hard to be human is that we all mess up. Some of us were raised to feel shame or guilt or both when we say or do something regrettable. Most of us want to do better.
Lizzo offered a refreshing alternative to shame and guilt. She got called out by fans and disability advocates for using an offensive term — sp@z — in the lyric of a new song.
She didn’t make excuses or engage in performative apology. Instead, she listened to the criticism, reflected on her word choice, changed the lyric and rerecorded the song.
And then, she posted on Instagram:
Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language. As a fat black woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me, so I overstand the power words can have. . .
As an influential artist I’m dedicated to being part of the change I’ve been waiting to see in the world.
(Extra credit for introducing me to the coinage overstand, which I will strive to use.)
Thought exercise: imagine if we all took criticism like Lizzo.
with love,
L