#Unsolicited (1968 – 2015)

[28whitepeonies]

Reading that made me realize how much my boyfriend ‚hates‘ woman, too. And it makes me sad.

Hi friend

Firstly I’m really sorry that the world we live in has been built the way it has and I’m sorry that it’s causing you hurt. I just want to start by saying that how you feel is very valid. I can’t offer much in the way of your boyfriend but I can offer some thoughts on how I exist in the hopes that might help you.

The thing about the 1D boys or the vast majority of men in general, and this will apply to your boyfriend too, is that misogyny is systemic. It’s built into the structures of everything around us, but like all forms of oppression, it does not have to be. Fighting it is a fight to make a better world and I think the it’s important to remind yourself that you’re not powerless, although as individuals our actions may not have a significant impact, there’s power in a collective.

And if I were to offer a piece of unsolicited advice, it would be that even beyond wanting to change the world, I have also probably found the greatest comfort in other women fighting for the same thing. There are different ways of finding that but I think there are two good places to start, the first is if you’re in a union - that in itself can be a good way to find likeminded people, but most branches will have a women’s rep and in my experience they will be a fountain of knowledge about local organising groups or book groups or radical knitting circles etc. The second requires a bit more time spent looking for yourself for what’s in your area, for instance there’s a little socialist book shop I have been going to for years that runs community events in my city and they do all sorts of stuff, or there are a couple of direct action groups focusing on women’s safety and buffer zones for abortion clinics - going along to meetings is a good way to work out what you want to get involved in and what you don’t.

I don’t have any other wise words to offer but I will share a couple of things that I have found a lot of comfort in and a couple of things that are a constant source of hope, because I think that matters a great deal. I’m going to put them under a cut before this gets too long!

This is a film about Ireland’s 8th Amendment and the fight for reproductive rights. There’s also a podcast called ‘How the yes was won’ if you’re a podcast fan.

If you haven’t seen ‘Made in Dagenham’ then I’d really recommend it. It’s about 187 women who worked for Ford as sewing machinists going on strike in 1968 over sexual discrimination. They predominately made car seat covers, and their strike brought Ford’s production to a halt. They won that fight and it resulted in better conditions for a far larger number of women than those 187 who walked out. The movie focuses a bit too much on pay and not enough on ford’s discriminatory practices in terms of conditions, grading of skilled work etc but it’s still a good place to start.

I’ve read two books recently that I would also recommend, the first is ‘Striking Women: Struggles and Strategies of South Asian Women Workers from Grunwick to Gate Gourmet’ which focuses on the stories of South Asian women organising and striking in Britain in 1976 and 2005.

The second is ‘Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China’ which starts with the stories of five women arrested in China in 2015 for their activism - the first section of the book tells each of their stories.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.3 (after 1940)

1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia. 1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay. 1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect. 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable. 1951 – London's Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain. 1951 – The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman. 1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole. 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network. 1953 – Two men are rescued from a semitrailer that crashed over the side of the Pit River Bridge before it fell into the Sacramento River. Amateur photographer Virginia Schau photographs "Rescue on Pit River Bridge", the first and only winning submission for the Pulitzer Prize for Photography to have been taken by a woman. 1957 – Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. 1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the "Birmingham campaign" protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement. 1968 – Eighty-five people are killed when Braniff International Airways Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas. 1971 – Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989. 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as "spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States. 1979 – Margaret Thatcher wins the United Kingdom general election. The following day, she becomes the first female British Prime Minister. 1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka. 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega. 1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h). In meteorology, the term “May 3” is synonymous with the F5 tornado. 1999 – Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side results in the Kargil War. 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet. 2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947. 2006 – Armavia Flight 967 crashes into the Black Sea near Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, killing 113 people. 2007 – The three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history". 2015 – Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

[topinforma]

New Post has been published on Mortgage News

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growing-pains-election-in-a-small-maryland-city-exposes-racial-class-divides

A cluster of the historic homes line Perry Street in Mount Rainier, Md. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Mount Rainier residents receive frequent postcards with unsolicited offers to buy their turn-of-the century Victorians and 1920s bungalows. All around Shepherd Street, contractors strip houses that will be flipped by investors eager to turn a profit in one of Prince George’s County’ oldest municipalities.

The pace of change has quickened in this former streetcar suburb, where artists and immigrants have flocked for the past three decades.

Anxiety over the influx of more affluent residents is fueling an unusually sour political season — tinged by a nasty debate over the decision to allow noncitizens to vote in municipal elections such as the mayoral and council contests that will be decided May 1.

Longtime Mayor Malinda Miles faces a challenger in the upcoming election. It would be her fourth term if she wins. (Courtesy of Malinda Miles)

Mayor Malinda Miles — a Web-savvy, 70-year-old who bought her house in Mount Rainier decades ago, when she and other black residents were treated as second-class citizens — is campaigning for a fourth term on a platform of staving off gentrification and preserving the social safety net. Those themes are echoed by Charnette Robinson and Tyrese Robinson, two African American women running for council seats.

Miles faces a strong challenge from council member Jesse Christopherson, 39, a white California native who used to work on Capitol Hill. He and council candidate Celina Benitez, a Salvadoran immigrant running against Charnette Robinson, pledge to draw new energy and investment to Mount Rainier while preserving its funky, artistic vibe. Tyrese Robinson’s opponent is Luke Chesek, who is white and moved in two years ago.

City leaders say they expect more robust voter turnout than usual after a series of heated candidate forums, allegations of sign stealing and growing worry about whether Mount Rainier is changing beyond recognition.

“The majority of the new homeowners are white, and that’s a little concerning at times,” said Brooke Kidd, a 20-year resident who is white and runs Joe’s Movement Emporium, an arts center that draws from across Mount Rainier’s racial and class divides. “We need to make sure they are not making decisions from bias and privilege.”

Location, location, location

Mount Rainier’s proximity to downtown Washington — four often-traffic-choked miles — makes it an attractive option for those seeking roomier, more affordable real estate.

It’s a city that attracts artists such as dancer Emily Eakland, 34, and her partner, whose business, ReCreative Spaces, offers work and exhibit space for other local artists.

It’s also a quiet place where neighbors take care of one another, said Diana Edwards, a Miles supporter who moved here in 1986.

It was the perfect spot for Felix Romero to buy a house, open his flower-and-party-planning business in 2002 and — thanks to the January council vote allowing noncitizens to register — prepare to cast a U.S. ballot for the first time. He has a Christopherson sign in his store window.

Eakland, who is not publicly backing a candidate, says that she wants leaders who are committed to existing businesses but also court development that fits the city’s character.

“What I would hate to see,” she said, “is people pushed out, and artists being displaced.”

Christopherson said that he agrees, wholeheartedly. The stay-at-home father of two has lived in Mount Rainier since 2009 and served on the council since 2013. He makes a point of patronizing the mom-and-pop businesses along 34th Street, including a food co-op founded in 1969 by conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War.

“We need to recognize the gems, foster networks of entrepreneurs and bring in new business that is complementary to the customer base already here,” he said the other day while drinking a large organic coffee at the WaTerHole, one of the newer shops in town. “We have a great culture, and we should continue to preserve that Mount Rainier experience.”

City Council member Jesse Christopherson is running for mayor. (Courtesy of Jesse Christopherson)

Christopherson said that he respects Miles’s work to help poor and elderly residents avoid eviction, pay bills and feed and clothe themselves. But, in his opinion, the city has not made enough economic progress as housing prices have soared and has missed opportunities, especially downtown.

Miles said that market forces doomed a city-led revitalization project along Rhode Island Avenue. She argued that the city has seen gradual, sustainable improvements — including the creation of parks, green initiatives and the expansion of the police force.

Seniors like herself on fixed incomes, Miles said, could find themselves unable to pay their property taxes if home values rise too quickly — as they might if the mayor pushes development at a faster pace.

“If I move out of Mount Rainier, I can’t afford to move back here to live,” she said. “New isn’t always better. All change isn’t good.”

The historic business district of Mount Rainier features boutiques and restaurants. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

‘The elephant in the room’

In the early 1900s, Mount Rainier was a city of mostly white farmers known as a “sundown” town — where people of color, it was understood, should be gone by nightfall. Miles arrived in 1968, one of the first waves of black residents at a time when voter lists for municipal elections focused on homeownership and excluded many African Americans.

She said that she clearly remembers the resistance she encountered when she started to become involved in civic life in the 1970s.

Although Mount Rainier soon had an African American majority, the five-member council stayed all-white until the election of Otis Hayward in 1985. Miles won a council seat two years later.

Since then, large numbers of immigrants have settled in town, creating what longtime resident and sculptor Alan Binstock called a “diverse Mayberry.”

Nearly 40 percent of the approximately 8,500 residents are Latino, according to 2015 Census Bureau estimates. Meanwhile, the black population has fallen below 50 percent. Miles is the only African American on the council.

The racial dynamics of the election are “more than just the elephant in the room,” said Nicole Goines, Christopherson’s campaign manager. “It’s the entire room.”

Barber William Moore cuts the hair of DJ Alexander, 4, at Hands On Barber Shop in Mount Rainier. Moore has owned the shop for 18 years and wonders how long he can keep it running as property taxes rise. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Benitez, a transplant from Los Angeles, decided to run after becoming involved in efforts to reach out to other Latino residents, who she said have been neglected by city government over the years.

“A minority within a minority” is how she described the immigrants who live mostly in World War II-era apartment buildings on the fringes of town but in some cases have bought homes closer in.

“The City Council should represent the whole community,” she said.

Benitez joined Christopherson, who speaks Spanish, and others to push for the law that allows noncitizens to vote in city elections. They are now campaigning to declare Mount Rainier a “sanctuary city.”

Such advocacy, she said, made her a target of “racial antagonism” from her campaign opponent, Charnette Robinson, a D.C. police commander and longtime Mount Rainier resident.

Charnette Robinson sent a letter to the council questioning the legality of noncitizen voting, which she called a “ploy to ensure votes for particular candidates.” The letter described the sanctuary debate as “an attempt to protect the rights of illegal aliens in ways rarely done for poor and minority citizens.”

The last page demanded proof that Benitez lives within city limits and was therefore eligible to run for council, even though the election board had already certified her residency.

Produce manager Latteta Theresa arranges fruit at The Glut in Mount Rainier. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

A diversity divide

Charnette Robinson vigorously denied that her inquiry had anything to do with her rival’s ethnicity and said she has a right to ask whether a candidate lives in the city or to question the need for a sanctuary label.

“We don’t need an ordinance to stipulate what we already know to [be] true — Mount Rainier is a community that welcomes diversity,” she wrote in an online forum. “As representatives, we must be inclusive, and not create ordinances that are one-direction and divisive.”

Miles abstained from the January vote that allowed noncitizen voting, which passed 3 to 0. Christopherson voted yes. Election officials said that 21 new voters have registered as a result of the legislation.

Initially, Miles said, it felt almost irreverent and too easy to extend voting rights to noncitizens after African Americans from her parents’ generation had to fight so hard to obtain those rights themselves.

But then someone asked her a question: “They said, ‘Do you want everyone to go through what you did to get this right?’ ” the mayor recalled. “So I asked myself, ‘Do I want that for someone else?’ ”

Still, she chose not to cast a vote on the issue, concerned about amending the city charter.

She said that her support for immigrants has not wavered. She signed an executive order to prohibit city police from helping to enforce federal immigration law after legislation to enact that policy failed to pass the council.

Children play with hula hoops during spring break camp aftercare at Joe’s Movement Emporium. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Municipal elections in Mount Rainier rarely draw more than 500 voters to the polls. But political observers in the city said that if the packed candidate forums are any indication, this year’s contest could change that.

“The fact that we have hotly contested elections means people are paying attention,” said Del. Jimmy Tarlau (D-Prince George’s), a Mount Rainier resident. “We hope that no matter who wins, the city will move forward and keep the diverse, eclectic nature of the community intact.”