Barriers on the Border

The US Department of Homeland Security has been rushing to complete 670 miles of border barriers by the end of 2008. DHS plans to install nearly 110 miles of 18 foot high concrete and steel structures along the Texas/Mexico border, but something has put construction behind schedule: local opposition. In this exclusive FSRN documentary, we travel with Shannon Young to the Texas-Mexico border to hear from locals about their take on the physical barrier slated to divide the region's sister cities.

Listen to it here.

F/U on Micheal Vick's Dogs...

Quite possibly the only time you'll see me link to a Sports Illustrated article in a good way...

THE DOG approaches the outstretched hand. Her name is Sweet Jasmine, and she is 35 pounds of twitchy curiosity with a coat the color of fried chicken, a pink nose and brown eyes. She had spent a full 20 seconds studying this five-fingered offering before advancing. Now, as she moves forward, her tail points straight down, her butt is hunched toward the ground, her head is bowed, her ears pinned back. She stands at maybe three quarters of her height.

She gets within a foot of the hand and stops. She licks her snout, a sign of nervousness, and looks up at the stranger, seeking assurance. She looks back to the hand, licks her snout again and begins to extend her neck. Her nose is six inches away from the hand, one inch, half an inch. She sniffs once. She sniffs again. At this point almost any other dog in the world would offer up a gentle lick, a sweet hello, an invitation to be scratched or petted. She's come so far. She's so close.

But Jasmine pulls away.

Read the rest here.

Feeding The Hungry Without Exploiting Animals

A friend was looking for vegan food charity, and after checking a few promising groups, we seem to have found one!

Check it out and donate!

Veg Fam Charity (yeah, they need to work on that name).

No Olympics for Chicago!

Condoms Behind the Counter - But Only in Black Neighborhoods

The NAACP and partner organizations are taking on drugstore chain CVS for consistently providing less service and quality to customers in African American neighborhoods. Among the ways CVS discriminates against its African American customers? Keeping condoms locked up in predominantly black neighborhoods, but not predominantly white neighborhoods.

Keeping condoms behind the counter or otherwise locked up creates a barrier to access and unnecessarily draws attention to the person purchasing condoms - which may inhibit them from making the purchase. In cities across the United States African Americans continue to become infected with HIV at rates vastly higher than those among white people. Our country cannot afford for CVS's policies to keep anyone from getting the condoms they need.

Check out the Cure CVS Now website for information and how you can take action.

"More Queer People Murdered. Lesbian and Gay Organizations Seem to Care Less"

By Beau Vyne of BB! News/ BB! Chicago
Bash Back Blog

New Orleans Police discovered the bodies of three young, Black, Queer people in a 7th ward house Saturday. The three people, one of whom was gender variant, were all shot to death in the house sometime around 3 or 4am Thursday. Mainstream media and the Police are as of now ignoring the fact that the three people were queer and possibly trans. However, Facebook groups devoted to the three and comments on news sites, are raising interesting questions by Queer people of color as to why large Lesbian and Gay organizations are ignoring this. Many people have wondered as to whether there would be an LGBT organizational black out on such violence had the three been wealthy and white Gay businessmen.

The Lesbian and Gay movement is currently so focused on begging the state for a marriage license that they seem to have forgotten everyone who is not well off and white. On Wednesday Morning Jennifer Gale, a homeless TransWoman, froze to death because no shelters would take her in. On Thursday 3 Queer People in New Orleans were shot and killed. And on Friday, Join The Impact held silent candlelight vigils for their “Right” to Marry.

Needless to say that in this latest “struggle” for gay marriage, white people have consistently demonized communities of color for their role in passing Prop 8. To many in the marriage movement, Queer People of Color and Trans people do not even exist. It is typical for White people in the marriage movement to claim that Trans people should wait until Gays and Lesbians get their rights. When violence is perpetuated against Queers of Color, HRC and other marriage oriented organizations are typically silent.

(See Duanna Johnson, The New Jersey Four, The 4 people just killed in New Orleans, Jennifer Gale and virtually every other trans person or queer/trans person or color.)

If we put all of the energy and money that is being wasted on the marriage movement into other projects, think of what we could do. We could easily open queer/trans friendly spaces for the homeless throughout the country. We could successfully demand, or better yet, provide free and quality healthcare to all people. Instead of collecting food and giving it to institutions that are notoriously corrupt, and yes, homophobic; we could collect food and distribute it ourselves. We could actively confront classism, racism, sexism, and transphobia amongst LGBTQ people. All the while militantly raising hell in the streets and disrupting business as usual, as every generation of Queers has since 1968. If we did all of these things and more, we would see more change than Barrack Obama has ever offered us.

What’s more important: a marriage certificate or housing for people who are freezing on the street? A slip of paper or the guarantee that when multiple people in our community are shot at point blank range we stand up and bash the fuck back?! Why are we not focusing on the plague that is HIV/AIDS? Shouldn’t we be making a big fucking deal seeing that in the last week alone 4 queer/trans people that we know of have been murdered?

It is long passed the time that queer and trans people got their shit together. We have been fighting since birth, by now you’d think we would now how to do it in an inclusive and effective manner.

Merry Christmas!