I'm SOOO Happy To Have Some Good News... Melissa Roxas Has Been Returned To Her Family.

Whew. Giving much thanks for real. Still waiting for her comrades to come home as well, but this is amazing, faith renewing news.

Details at the Bulatlat site.

Surface Filipino-American Activist Melissa Roxas And Comrades Now!

Bloggers, activists, people of conscience (and influence) please repost far and wide! My friend Kiwi has posted on his blog about his missing friend, Melissa Roxas. May the doors open to her safe return, as well as the other FilAm activists.

BAYAN-USA, an alliance of 14 Filipino American organizations and chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan Philippines), is calling on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Department of National Defense, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to immediately surface Melissa Roxas, an American citizen of Filipino descent who was abducted in the Philippines on May 19. BAYAN-USA also urgently calls on our representatives in the U.S. Congress to act quickly to ensure the safe return of Roxas.

Roxas is a well-known Filipino American activist, who served as the first Regional Coordinator of BAYAN-USA in Los Angeles and co-founded the cultural organization Habi Arts. Roxas is an active human rights advocate and was instrumental in organizing a BAYAN-USA contingent that participated in the International Solidarity Mission in 2005, an international fact finding mission that called attention to the escalating human rights violations in the Philippines. Roxas went to the Philippines in 2007 to pursue human rights work, where she became a full time volunteer health worker. She was abducted on May 19, 2009 at approximately 1:30 PM in Sitio Bagong Sikat, Barangay kapanikian, La Paz, Tarlac. She was with two other volunteers, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc.

Based on reports filed by the human rights group KARAPATAN and the La Paz police, Roxas and her companions were taken by at least 8 armed, hooded men riding two motorcycles and a Besta van without any license plate numbers. There has been no word on the whereabouts and condition of Roxas and her companions since the abduction. The circumstances of Roxas’ abduction typify the abductions and enforced disappearances of over 200 innocent civilians, allegedly last seen in the hands of suspected state security forces.

To report leads, or to connect for action contact:

Kuusela Hilo
BAYAN-USA Vice Chair
vicechair@bayanusa.org

Rhonda Ramiro
BAYAN-USA Secretary General
secgen@bayanusa.org

Also please take a moment to sign this petiton.

and Kiwi, if you need a dj for a consciousness raising / action / event, holla.

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YES MEANS YES! Readings on Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape, This Saturday 7:30pm @ Pegasus Books Berkeley

Please support your local indie bookstore, and a revolutionary new anthology that is being read this Saturday at Pegasus in Berkeley! The book is called Yes Means Yes! Visions Of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape. A group of feminist writers came together to update the 1970's anti-rape slogan "No Means No" into a new paradigm that affirms female sexuality and power, while creating space for new visions of ending a rape culture. The Pegasus site has a great synopsis:

In this groundbreaking new look at rape edited by writers and activists Jaclyn Freidman and Jessica Valenti, the way we view rape in our culture is finally dismantled and replaced with a genuine understanding and respect for female sexual pleasure. Feminist, political, and activist writers alike present their ideas for a paradigm shift from the “No Means No” model—an approach that while necessary for where we were in 1974, needs an overhaul today. Yes Means Yes brings to the table a dazzling variety of perspectives and experiences focused on the theory that educating all people to value female sexuality and pleasure leads to viewing women differently, and ending rape. Yes Means Yes aims to have radical and far-reaching effects: from teaching men to treat women as collaborators and not conquests, encouraging men and women that women can enjoy sex instead of being shamed for it, and ultimately, that our children can inherit a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished. With commentary on public sex education, pornography, and mass media, Yes Means Yes is a powerful and revolutionary anthology.

I just bought this book yesterday, I am looking forward to getting schooled. For a peek into some of the writing, click to "The Not Rape Epidemic" written by blogger Latoya Peterson and shared on Racialiscious. They have trigger warnings there, and i would repeat them. This really is probably not something to read at work. It goes through some really graphic experiences before mapping out some of the visions for ending rape. Whew. I got work to do with my mens!!

Also coming soon is my reportback on the SFWAR Walk Against Rape, i'm still writing that one. And i love that people are still donating even though the walk is done for this year. I set my donations page so that people can keep donating until September sometime.

I won't be able to go to the reading because of work, but if you go, let us know what you thought! And you can buy the book through the Pegasus link, and here is a Powell's link. Forget Amazon, they are officially wack.

Laters

Time: Saturday, May 9, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Location: Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue
Title of Event: Feminist writers read from Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape

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Kenyan Women Join Forces To Ban Sex With Husbands In The Name Of Peace And National Unity.

Awesome. In a modern day, real life Lysistrata re-enactment, Kenyan women are coming together with a plan to withhold sex from husbands for a higher political cause. Ida Odinga and Lucy Kibaki (pictured here) are being urged to join the campaign, they are respectively the wives of the PM and the President. President Kibaki and PM Odinga have been in a political squabble for sometime now, and the nation fears violent political unrest. The movement hopes to get the two leaders to make up and prioritize unity. According to CNN, Ida Odinga supports the campaign "100%"

BBC goes on to report:

Women's activist groups in Kenya have slapped their partners with a week-long sex ban in protest over the infighting plaguing the national unity government.

The Women's Development Organisation coalition said they would also pay prostitutes to join their strike.

Patricia Nyaundi, executive director of the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida), one of the organisations in the campaign, said they hoped the seven-day sex ban would force the squabbling rivals to make up.

She said the campaign would start from her bedroom and that emissaries had been sent to the two leaders' wives, Ida Odinga and Lucy Kibaki, urging them to join in and lead from the front.

"Great decisions are made during pillow talk, so we are asking the two ladies at that intimate moment to ask their husbands: 'Darling can you do something for Kenya?'"

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Angie Zapata's Killer Convicted On All Charges, Making Him The 1st Person Convicted For Hate Crime Against TG.

18 year old Angie Zapata was found beaten to death in her Colorado apartment in July 2008. People have been rallying for justice since.

This news just came in today, i quote from 9news Colorado:

The jury found 32-year-old Allen Andrade guilty of both first-degree murder and of a bias motivated crime or hate crime. It is believed to be the first conviction in state history for a hate crime against a transgender person.

I'm not sure if this sets a nationwide precedent, but i wouldn't be surprised.

As always, I have complex feelings around the failings of our (in)justice system, a system that does not rehabilitate, a system where big wigs make bank from imprisoning humans, a system rife with oppression... but i do hope that the friends and family of Angie Zapata find some redemption in this historical ruling, and i hope that this sends a message to people inclined to violence that you can't get away with hurting transgendered folks.

Rest In Peace Angie Zapata.

(click for tribute page, hear from her family, get educated on TG issues)

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San Francisco Walk Against Rape This Saturday- and i'm $78 away from my fundraising goal of $1000!

Thank you everyone who has been sooooo generous to this cause. I also wanna give thanks and props to those who are doing the work with offenders, and those who mentor young men around non-violent ways to embody masculinity.

And I can't front, I am EXCITED!! I am just $78 away from my goal of $1000- AND my annual call for men of color to walk with me has been answered. Yay! Together, we plan to model that men of color ARE visible, active, caring allies to women, and not just people to be profiled as perpetrators.

I invite you to even contribute $5... every little bit helps a woman get crucial services at SF's only community run rape crisis center. If 8 people give $10, that's it, we are GOOD! Though if you click into the link and see that we busted the 1K, don't let that stop you either! :)

http://www.firstgiving.com/richardwright1

you can also just click the widget at the right.

Again, thanks for your support and readership, and thank you SFWAR. lets do this!!

have a great weekend :)

~richard

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The Men's Story Project: Building Strength, Creating Peace. April 25-26.

Bay Area! These are different"his-stories" being told here, these stories model ways men should be talking, issues we should be examining. Don't miss the newest edition of:

The Men's Story Project
Building Strength, Creating Peace





UCB Multicultural Center
Sat. April 25, Sun April 26
Doors 7 PM; performance 7:30
$10-12 @ door only

The Men's Story Project is a new performance and dialogue project exploring social ideas about masculinity. Described by audiences as "groundbreaking" and "something that needs to keep on happening," the April UCB presentations will highlight 15 Bay Area artists, activists, and first-time presenters, ages 20-60, sharing true stories about their lives through slam poetry, monologues, music and dance.

The stories address subjects including: platonic love between men; disability and sexuality; men's restroom rituals; machismo in Latino culture; images of African American masculinity; an Oakland activist's refusal to continue intergenerational patterns of violence; challenging racism; being African American and gay; intergenerational support between men; responding to domestic violence; cancer and wholeness; gender identity; family relationships; personal strength; and gratitude to lifelong mentors.

Presenters: L. Abdul-Kenyatta; Michael Katz; Jeff Pollett; Amir Rabiyah; Joshua Safran; Jake Tobias; Aqeela Sherrills (Community Self-Determination Institute, Reverence Movement); Clover Mathis (formerly of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater); Leroy F. Moore, Jr. (Sins Invalid); Galen Peterson (Art in Action & Silence the Violence); Folawole Oyinlola (San Francisco Ballet); Abe Becker, Matt Blesse, Charles Ekabhumi Ellik, Stephen Meads & Terry Taplin (Berkeley, SF and Youth Speaks slam poetry championship teams).

www.mensstoryproject.org

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to 11 year old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, who hung himself after daily anti-gay bullying

i am going to attempt to put words
to the unspeakably tragic.

my heart, mind & soul
sinks, fumbles,
shakes in denial

and i never knew you.

so many children
know the agony
of the constricting prison of
"masculinity"
or
"femininity"

and still other children
who don't even know themselves yet
patrol the borders of that prison
with adolescent cruelty

your world must have been so painful
so claustrophobic
to choose constricting your own breath
as a means of escape

carl

may your spirit rest
and your story teach us
that homophobia hurts everyone
constricts us all
whether you are gay
or people just decide you are.

may your spirit rest
may your family know peace
may justice and empathy evolve hand in hand.

you are beautiful.

~rmw 4/10/09


*for the article in GLSEN click here.


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The Power Of Women & Words: Art Exhibit, Film and Writing Workshop This Saturday

The Power Of Women & Words: Art Exhibit, Film and Writing Workshop

Saturday, April 11th, 2009
Doors Open - 12:30pm
Film - 1pm
Writing Workshop - 3pm

Refreshments Provided!
Sliding Scale $5 - $15

Berkeley College Auditorium
2050 Center Street, Berkeley CA 94704
(one block from Downtown Berkeley BART station)

Art Exhibit: Art of women facing and overcoming violence by local and international artists.
Film Showing: "What I Want My Words To Do To You".
Writing Workshop: Workshop lead by BCC writing teachers Sharon Coleman & Robyn Brooks.

Fundraising event benefitting organizations working to stop violence against women.
All proceeds go to Amnesty International and the V-Day Organization.

to my future son

a tight poem from poet & good friend Kenji Liu on masculinity. Be sure to peep the rest of his insightful gems at parami10. He and some friends are doing a Poem A Day exercise for April, some really good stuff is comin up. Also look out for his chapbook "You Left Without Your Shoes" coming out on Finishing Line Press. Respect!


to my future son

inside concrete, men spin and flex
like WWF wrestlers, hollow and fearsome

and always performing. son, you do not have
to empty yourself like them, fists squeezed

so tightly your tenderness becomes
a sickness, constricted and hard

in your liver. this is the price
of manhood, to be a stone quivering

inside an egg. you will be told
to choose from a stir fried lineup

of kung fu gangsters, dumb-asses and
anti-sexy uncle tongs. these are men

made from the politics of other men
who only worship themselves.

if you choose manhood, many
will reward you, but really, who wants

to be a plastic action figure, muscular
yet with only one move: a head slam?



-Reposted by permission of the author Kenji Liu. This poem is protected under the “Attribution Non-Commercial No Derrivatives” license, view at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Michelle Obama Shines & Inspires Young Girls Of Color In England.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Great words to deliver to young, mostly brown girls. This is a moving clip. It becomes clear why Michelle Obama is enjoying higher approval ratings than Barack Obama in England right now.

"Cosmopolitan" Institute Completes Decades-Long Study On How To Please Your Man

Finally. I've been waiting for them to finish this up already.





'Cosmopolitan' Institute Completes Decades-Long Study On How To Please Your Man

Reprise: Haiku Tribute To Ancestral Queens Of Liberation

i posted this in September, but wanted to repost in honor of Women's History Month and ancestors.

Though of course the master plan is to keep bringin' it no matter what month it is... like these women did. Nuff respect.

Ashé

Nanny of Maroons
Jamaica’s warrior queen
spirit of the hills

Harriet Tubman
forged freedom in the crossroads
mystic eyes guide souls

Please Sponsor Me In The SFWAR Walk Against Rape.

Hey everyone!

Wassup, hope that spring is waking you up in good ways. On Saturday, April 25th, I am participating in the San Francisco Walk Against Rape, and would love your help in supporting San Francisco's only community based rape crisis center, SFWAR (San Francisco Women Against Rape).

As some of you know, i did this walk last year with the goal to raise $250 (i blogged the reportback here). Because of y'all, i raised $700!! So this year, i'm raising the bar accordingly- my new goal is $1000.

If 40 people on this list donate $25 each, or if you ask your workplace to collectively donate, i will definitely be able to reach my goal, and you would be helping women get crucial services. Of course, ANY donation is so appreciated. I have a fundraising website up, and it is really fast, easy and secure to donate through. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts. You can also track the progress of my fundraising there.

I am also putting a call out to men of color who will walk with me, and model that we are visible, actively caring men who care about women's lives. So many of us are profiled as being the perpetrators, not allies. I invite men of color to walk with me and defy this image together.

Please forward this to those who you think would want to help out. Thank you for your time and support! Bless up

~richard
(to donate, click here.)

ps for more details: http://www.sfwar.org/walk/theevent.html

Active Spirit: End Violence Towards Women! A Community Healing Circle, This Sunday.

Active Spirit: End Violence Towards Women! Community Healing Circle

The legacy of abuse and oppression against girls and women worldwide is staggering. Come join with us as we stand in circle sending collective healing, justice, light, love and positive change to those who have been victims and survivors of violence and abuse.

This is a call to be active not only in our day to day lives, but on the level of spirit.

Let us be and create the change we want to see in the world! Come together and send transformative healing energy to those in need.

All Are Welcome. Instruments Are Welcome And Encouraged.

Sunday, March 29th, 3:30pm
Lake Merritt Gazebo, Oakland
(Take the Bellevue park entrance off of Grand to the Garden Center,
also accessed lakeside after Fairyland, by lake fountain)

Facilitated by

Rashidah (Spirits Of Our Ancestors)

Richard Omo Esu (Active Spirit)

Black Women In Obama Administration Form Tight Sistahood

A good article from The Washington Post. Not only are Black women filling important positions in the Obama Administration, but these women are also coming together to form close personal and professional relationships. Sistahood on Capitol Hill! Krissah Thompson reports:

Like two old girlfriends catching up, they ignored onlookers, hugged and laughed.

Donna Brazile, the political strategist and Washington veteran, peppered Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson with questions.

"How are the kids?" "Have you contacted the church? I don't go every Sunday but they know me."

Before she left, Jackson had an open invitation to Brazile's place for home-cooked red beans and rice, served up every Monday night.

"The sisterhood in this town, there's deep history here," Jackson said.

The "Obama women" -- as African American women who've taken big jobs in his administration have been nicknamed -- mark another step in the long journey of black women from outsiders to gatekeepers in political Washington. They have quietly entered their jobs with little attention paid to the fact that they are the largest contingent of high-ranking black women to work for a president.

Many are firsts -- as in the first black woman to run the Domestic Policy Council, the first black EPA chief and the first black woman to be deputy chief of staff. Last week, Obama tapped Margaret (Peggy) Hamburg to lead the Food and Drug Administration. If confirmed, Hamburg -- who is biracial (her mother is African American, her father Jewish) -- will also be a first.

Seven of about three dozen senior positions on President Obama's team are filled by African American women. Veterans in town see them as part of the steady evolution of power for black women, not only in the White House but also across the country -- in the business world, in academia, in policy circles.

So this is what a post-Condi era starts to look like. So far, I think I like.

FLY GIRLS! B-Boys Beware: Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers

Soul Jazz Records must have collectively done something really right in a past lifetime. They ALWAYS come out with the most amazing compilations, whether its Studio One dub, rocksteady, dancehall, soul, electro, new wave, Nuyorican classics, dubstep, post-punk, Brazilian music, jazz, hip hop, Osunlade or something else... its always quality. And now, they drop the FLY GIRLS! comp. wow.

This compilation really takes it back to the beginning, anthologizing important names and songs that are usually understated in a male dominated field. It includes Nikki Giovanni's original "Ego Trippin'" as a prototype of female pre-rap/spoken word. Well deserved, insightful props. Props that Blackalicious had the vision to acknowledge when they brought this track back full circle on their album "Nia", where Nikki Giovanni recites "Ego Trippin'" over proper hip hop beats (peep the sweet YouTube tribute!). Also included are popular tracks from Queen Latifah ("Ladies First") and Missy Elliot ("The Rain"), as well as solid tracks from MC Lyte and Bahamadia. JJ Fad represents too, with a cool track that is NOT "Supersonic"! Sweet Tee is on the bill too, and i was and am definitely a fan. She was riding the James Brown and Funkadelic sampled beats like nobody's business. There is even a tip of the hat to the "Roxanne Wars" of the 80's, with a Roxanne Shanté track up in there too.

It is my hope that this is a beginning of a series... I suspect it has to be, since there are glaring omissions on this album (no Lauren Hill, Salt and Pepa or Ladybug Mecca). But in true Soul Jazz Records stylee, what is lacking is made up for with gems that maybe you never heard of, or some you forgot. I'm just recognizing Camille Yarbrough's "Take Yo' Praise" as the original sample from Fatboy Slim's "Praise You (Like I Should)". I'm also feeling Lady B's "To The Beat", which i don't remember, but it takes me straight back to the funky "Rapper's Delight" era... just listening to it transports me back to the 70's riding a banana seat bicycle in purple cordoroys. Sweet! Mad props to all the fly girls for sure. Peep the link for a listen, enjoy!

Iceland Breaks Global Barrier By Electing Openly Lesbian Prime Minister.

Ok Iceland, you got some fierce examples of womanhood reppin you on an international stage! First Bjork, now Johanna Sigurdardottir. This appointment apparently went down in February, i'm just catching up now. BBC reports:

Johanna Sigurdardottir, named as Iceland's prime minister on Sunday, is the first openly lesbian head of government in Europe, if not the world - at least in modern times.

The 66-year-old's appointment as an interim leader, until elections in May, is seen by many as a milestone for the gay and lesbian movement.

Up until now, if a gay man or woman has been prime minister, they have done their best to conceal the fact.

In Iceland itself, however, the new prime minister's sexual orientation appears to be causing less excitement than it is abroad.

I like the fact that its not really a big deal in Iceland itself. And i'm feelin this trend where world leaders are beginning to look like and represent those who are usually oppressed in those countries. Though I really have no idea how oppressed LGBTQ folks are in Iceland. Seems to be pretty chill there... no pun intended...

USA To Finally Sign UN Gay Rights Declaration

I can't wait to see the run down of Obama's first 100 days, and how it compares to other US Presidents. AP reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will endorse a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality that then-President George W. Bush had refused to sign, The Associated Press has learned.

U.S. officials said Tuesday they had notified the declaration's French sponsors that the administration wants to be added as a supporter. The Bush administration was criticized in December when it was the only western government that refused to sign on.

The move was made after an interagency review of the Bush administration's position on the nonbinding document, which was signed by all 27 European Union members as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries, the officials said.

This is exactly the kind of strategy I was hoping Obama was going for. Handing meaningless symbols to the homophobe Christian fundamentalist right (Rick Warren speaking at the Inauguration) while planning to make REAL change for the people. Ever so slowly, this country is evolving out of a medieval state of being. From closing Guantanamo Bay, to affirming the human rights of LGTBTQ fam... Its been getting sunnier up in here. Giving Thanks. May the positive momentum continue.