i have had it

with humanity


i'm opting out. i'mma go live with the monkeys like jane goodall.

so, dp wanted to go get nitrogen put in his brand new tires, cuz apparently it's teh noo hottnezz for tires, or whatever. fine. we go. we're potty learning, and peanut has been doing wonderfully on the potty. so we pull into the work bay at this place, and she tells me she has to pee. i ask mechanic dude if they've got a bathroom i can take my 2 year old to use. he says nope. fine. i take her behind some bushes, and let her pee there. a cop sees.

so now, i have to go to court, for violating the local ordinance about public urination.

and i wouldn't be mad about that...

except that the cop said she was citing me because 'i should have known better than to strip my daughter half naked in front of strange men and let her pee in public. what if they'd been perverts, who went home and rubbed one out while thinking about her.' and i said, well, unless i missed som ething, i can't control what people think. and she said 'i'm citing you to teach you a lesson about protecting your daughter.'

i'm livid. i don't like cops (meta, not the obligatory, w00t cops! i know this cool cop) and this is not doing anything for my opinion. this chick looked like she was maybe 19. if you want to cite me for having my kid pee in public, do that. if you wanna cite me for being stupid, bite me, it's not against the law.

ARGH!

i am too angry

to have any coherent original thought on this. i've written four blogs, and deleted them all, because i cannot seem to get the important parts across without a lot of anger and venom obscuring them. so--i'm lifting the 'share this with your friends' email from colorofchange.org.

I just learned about a case of segregation-era oppression happening today in Jena, Louisiana. I signed onto ColorOfChange.org's campaign for justice in Jena, and wanted to invite you to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2402-464197

Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2402-464197

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended in June, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against all six young men.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2402-464197

Thanks.