elizabitchtaylor: Rest in Peace to abortion rights activist Dr. Henry Morgentaler. Morgentaler emerged in 1969 as one of Canada’s most controversial figures when he broke the law at the time, and opened the country’s first abortion clinic in Montreal. Over the next two decades, he would be heralded as a hero by some, and called a murderer by others as he fought to change Canada’s abortion laws. Morgentaler, who was born in Lodz, Poland, and came to Canada after the Second World War, emerged in 1967 as an advocate for the right of women to have abortion on demand — a polarizing issue in Canada. His abortion clinic in Montreal was followed by more clinics across the country. “His work changed the legal landscape in Canada, and eventually led to the 1988 landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision that gave women the right to obtain abortion care,” said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. “Dr. Morgentaler was a legend, a hero, and a national treasure in both our countries, and we will miss him dearly.” (CBC)
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elizabitchtaylor:

Rest in Peace to abortion rights activist Dr. Henry Morgentaler.

Morgentaler emerged in 1969 as one of Canada’s most controversial figures when he broke the law at the time, and opened the country’s first abortion clinic in Montreal.

Over the next two decades, he would be heralded as a hero by some, and called a murderer by others as he fought to change Canada’s abortion laws.

Morgentaler, who was born in Lodz, Poland, and came to Canada after the Second World War, emerged in 1967 as an advocate for the right of women to have abortion on demand — a polarizing issue in Canada. His abortion clinic in Montreal was followed by more clinics across the country.

“His work changed the legal landscape in Canada, and eventually led to the 1988 landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision that gave women the right to obtain abortion care,” said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation.

“Dr. Morgentaler was a legend, a hero, and a national treasure in both our countries, and we will miss him dearly.” (CBC)

emo-kit: On December 6th, 1989,Twenty-five-year-old  Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained mini-14 rifle and a hunting knife shot twenty-eight people before killing himself. He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students. After claiming that he was “fighting feminism”, he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. Overall, he killed fourteen women and injured ten other women and four men in just under twenty minutes before turning the gun on himself. This is my dedication to the Polytechnique massacre, It occurred in Montreal Quebec and affects every single woman that hears about it. These are the names of all the women who died that day in December. May they rest in peace. 
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emo-kit:

On December 6th, 1989,Twenty-five-year-old  Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained mini-14 rifle and a hunting knife shot twenty-eight people before killing himself. He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students. After claiming that he was “fighting feminism”, he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. Overall, he killed fourteen women and injured ten other women and four men in just under twenty minutes before turning the gun on himself.

This is my dedication to the Polytechnique massacre, It occurred in Montreal Quebec and affects every single woman that hears about it. These are the names of all the women who died that day in December. May they rest in peace. 

mazungu: Lincoln Alexander, first black Canadian MP and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, dead at 90. “He supported the Liberals in the free vote to abolish capital punishment in 1976 and he threatened to break ranks with his own party to vote in favour of anti-hate legislation, saying “screw you” to the P.C. argument that it would curtail freedom of speech. “Are you saying that you can call my son or daughter a nigger and that is free speech?” he asked during debate on the bill.” (obituary)
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mazungu:

Lincoln Alexander, first black Canadian MP and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, dead at 90.

“He supported the Liberals in the free vote to abolish capital punishment in 1976 and he threatened to break ranks with his own party to vote in favour of anti-hate legislation, saying “screw you” to the P.C. argument that it would curtail freedom of speech. “Are you saying that you can call my son or daughter a nigger and that is free speech?” he asked during debate on the bill.”

(obituary)

(via governmentofcanada)

Source: johnnyrubadub

‘Slut-Shamed’ Staten Island Teen Tweets ‘I Give Up’ Before Jumping In Front of Subway Trai

stfuhypocrisy:

[TW SLUT SHAMING, BULLYING, MISOGYNY, SUICIDE]

 Neetzan Zimmerman

A 15-year-old Tottenville High School studentwho committed suicide yesterday afternoonat the Huguenot Staten Island Railway station was apparently the victim of ceaseless verbal abuse from classmates that followed her right up to the moment she jumped in front of a subway train.

Friends of Felicia Garcia said she was on receiving end of regular invective barrages, particularly from football players who harassed her over a past relationship with one of the school’s athletes.

“This poor girl was called a slut. She was teased on Facebook,” a senior named Victoria told theNew York Post.

Garcia, a foster child whose parents allegedly passed away, would often complain about her progressively worsening situation on Twitter and Instagram. On Monday, two days before she took her own life, Garcia posted one final tweet: “I can’t, I’m done, I give up.”

Some students who were on the train platform with Garcia yesterday said the football players were still taunting her right up to the end, hurling “sexually explicit jeers.”

When the train arrived, Garcia reportedly said “Finally it’s here,” before leaping backwards onto the tracks.

“I hope the football team feels guilty for what they did to her,” said Garcia’s friend, 15-year-old Stephanie Imparato. “They were torturing her. How can you go through life being verbally assaulted like that? These guys are cruel and malicious.”

The NYPD is said to be investigating claims that bullying played a central role in Garcia’s suicide.

The same train station was the site of another teen suicide just over two years ago.

(via wretchedoftheearth)

Source: stfueverything

oumkhartoum: notesonascandal: rubyshimmer: blackandmissing: There is NO Amber Alert and the police believe the children are endangered. PLEASE SHARE. Do not let an image fool you, some kidnappers are described as “quiet and nice”. The last thing we want to do is not share a story because of what the media is saying and they end up in a bad situation. The survival time for a missing child is 48 hours. The twins were taken SUNDAY. Their time is up. You all know that if they were a different color, they would be national news by now. That will not happen with this case if no one cares enough to SHARE! Please pass this story along even if you THINK they will be back home before we know it. Thanks for your help. This story is real. I had not heard about it till now. I hope someone finds them. http://www.wtvm.com/story/18693962/2012/06/02/statewide-alert-issued-for-missing-kids-from-lowndes-county-al These children were sadly found dead, along with the man, who was their caregiver. There’s a suspect in the case, but I’m not sure if he’s been apprehended yet.  Devastating story. And to think that the man who took their lives was acquitted of murder charges in the past. May they rest in peace.
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oumkhartoum:

notesonascandal:

rubyshimmer:

blackandmissing:

There is NO Amber Alert and the police believe the children are endangered. PLEASE SHARE. Do not let an image fool you, some kidnappers are described as “quiet and nice”. The last thing we want to do is not share a story because of what the media is saying and they end up in a bad situation. The survival time for a missing child is 48 hours. The twins were taken SUNDAY. Their time is up. You all know that if they were a different color, they would be national news by now. That will not happen with this case if no one cares enough to SHARE! Please pass this story along even if you THINK they will be back home before we know it. Thanks for your help.

This story is real. I had not heard about it till now. I hope someone finds them.

http://www.wtvm.com/story/18693962/2012/06/02/statewide-alert-issued-for-missing-kids-from-lowndes-county-al

These children were sadly found dead, along with the man, who was their caregiver. There’s a suspect in the case, but I’m not sure if he’s been apprehended yet. 

Devastating story. And to think that the man who took their lives was acquitted of murder charges in the past. May they rest in peace.

(via onedirectionfacingmecca)

Source: blackandmissing

oumkhartoum: thepeoplesrecord: Another Black Youth Gunned Down: The Shooting of Darius SimmonsPictured - Patricia Larry with a photo of her son, Darius.June 6, 2012Darius Simmons was like a lot of 13-year-old boys — funny, boisterous and a little braggy… John Henry Spooner, his 75-year-old next-door neighbor, is charged with first-degree murder in the boy’s death. Spooner, a widower who has been diagnosed with cancer, had complained to Alderman Bob Donovan about a break-in at his home earlier in the week, blaming the family next door.  Spooner admitted to police that he shot Darius on Thursday morning, even as the boy had held up his arms and ran away. Spooner shot the boy because he believed he’d broken into his house and stolen some guns. (Spooner was a collector.) Simmons’ mother says the police searched the house and found nothing. I understand why she wants to say that, but I think even if her son actually was burglar you are still left with 1.) someone taking the law for self and 2.) executing a child over an alleged theft. There may well be more here. We’ll likely know in the coming days. I bet we’ll be hearing about Wisconsin’s own stand your ground law. For now we have this: Milwaukee police said they recognized the area around 19th and Arrow streets address when the call came in about a man they said shot his teenage neighbor. Dispatch records obtained by WISN 12 News show the Spooner called 911 at least 15 times in five years, including four stolen guns after a break-in Tuesday.   An hour before the shooting, Spooner had been eating breakfast with Alderman Bob Donovan. “(Spooner) was telling me about the recent burglary that he had. They stole $3,000 worth of guns. I know John to have been a member, or is a member, of the National Rifle Association,” Donovan said.  “I asked him, ‘Did you call the police?’ He said, ‘Yeah,’ but for whatever reason, seemed a little frustrated with that investigation. I don’t know the details of it,” Donovan said.  “Did he suspect the 13-year-old?” Lyles asked.  “He suspects whoever lives next door to him, that those individuals were involved,” Donovan said.  Donovan said Spooner has lung cancer and seemed troubled, not angry. But after the shooting, he said the conversation stands out.  “He did say that ‘maybe there are other ways of dealing with this,’” Donovan said.   Source Update: Spooner shot Simmons with a 9mm handgun five feet away from him in the chest, in front of his mother.  Darius was shot once in the chest with his hands raised.  He ran to escape and collapsed at the corner, while Spooner attempted to shoot him in the back, and tried to fire a third shot.  After police arrived, Darius’s body remained on the sidewalk, while police questioned his mother, Patricia Larry, in a squad car for approximately two hours. During the police investigation of the shooting, they searched Ms. Larry’s home again.  Finding nothing, they then proceeded to arrest his older brother for having truancy tickets. The police left the child’s body on the floor while they harassed his family, questioned the mother for two hours while she could see her son’s dead body outside of the car’s window, searched their home and then arrested the victim’s brother for truancy. This is the reality of being Black. How absolutely sick. John Henry Spooner will die of his cancer before he serves his sentence. There is no justice.
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oumkhartoum:

thepeoplesrecord:

Another Black Youth Gunned Down: The Shooting of Darius Simmons
Pictured - Patricia Larry with a photo of her son, Darius.
June 6, 2012

Darius Simmons was like a lot of 13-year-old boys — funny, boisterous and a little braggy…

John Henry Spooner, his 75-year-old next-door neighbor, is charged with first-degree murder in the boy’s death. Spooner, a widower who has been diagnosed with cancer, had complained to Alderman Bob Donovan about a break-in at his home earlier in the week, blaming the family next door. 

Spooner admitted to police that he shot Darius on Thursday morning, even as the boy had held up his arms and ran away.
Spooner shot the boy because he believed he’d broken into his house and stolen some guns. (Spooner was a collector.) Simmons’ mother says the police searched the house and found nothing. I understand why she wants to say that, but I think even if her son actually was burglar you are still left with 1.) someone taking the law for self and 2.) executing a child over an alleged theft.
There may well be more here. We’ll likely know in the coming days. I bet we’ll be hearing about Wisconsin’s own stand your ground law. For now we have this:
Milwaukee police said they recognized the area around 19th and Arrow streets address when the call came in about a man they said shot his teenage neighbor. Dispatch records obtained by WISN 12 News show the Spooner called 911 at least 15 times in five years, including four stolen guns after a break-in Tuesday. 
 An hour before the shooting, Spooner had been eating breakfast with Alderman Bob Donovan. “(Spooner) was telling me about the recent burglary that he had. They stole $3,000 worth of guns. I know John to have been a member, or is a member, of the National Rifle Association,” Donovan said. 
“I asked him, ‘Did you call the police?’ He said, ‘Yeah,’ but for whatever reason, seemed a little frustrated with that investigation. I don’t know the details of it,” Donovan said. 
“Did he suspect the 13-year-old?” Lyles asked. 
“He suspects whoever lives next door to him, that those individuals were involved,” Donovan said. 
Donovan said Spooner has lung cancer and seemed troubled, not angry. But after the shooting, he said the conversation stands out. 
“He did say that ‘maybe there are other ways of dealing with this,’” Donovan said.
 
Update: Spooner shot Simmons with a 9mm handgun five feet away from him in the chest, in front of his mother. 

Darius was shot once in the chest with his hands raised.  He ran to escape and collapsed at the corner, while Spooner attempted to shoot him in the back, and tried to fire a third shot. 

After police arrived, Darius’s body remained on the sidewalk, while police questioned his mother, Patricia Larry, in a squad car for approximately two hours.

During the police investigation of the shooting, they searched Ms. Larry’s home again.  Finding nothing, they then proceeded to arrest his older brother for having truancy tickets.

The police left the child’s body on the floor while they harassed his family, questioned the mother for two hours while she could see her son’s dead body outside of the car’s window, searched their home and then arrested the victim’s brother for truancy. This is the reality of being Black. How absolutely sick. John Henry Spooner will die of his cancer before he serves his sentence. There is no justice.

(via onedirectionfacingmecca)

Source: thepeoplesrecord

I think it was a real mistake that the United States chose to fire missiles into the Middle East, I think that was a huge mistake. And I think that it’s very important that the United States start to look towards nonviolent means of resolving conflicts. Because if we-those bombings that took place in the Middle East were thought of as a retaliation by the terrorists and if we thought of what we did as retaliation, certainly we’re gonna find more retaliation from people in the Middle East-from terrorists specifically I should say because most Middle Eastern people are not terrorists. And that’s another thing that America really needs to think about is our racism, racism that comes from the United States towards Muslim people and towards Arabic people, and that’s something that has to stop.

-MCA, Adam Yauch, in 1998

(via pushinghoopswithsticks)

Adam Yauch was one of the first famous people to speak about Anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia publicly in such plain terms. The humble simplicity of this statement is typical of what I know of his personality and it moves me deeply still. Rest in Peace Adam. And thank you. 

(via vsthepomegranate)

(via so-treu)

Source: pushinghoopswithsticks

millionsmillions: It was shocking to find that New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid had died, of an asthma attack of all things, while reporting in Syria, especially when he’s put himself in harm’s way so many other times and emerged unscathed. Tyler Hicks, the Times photographer who was with Shadid when he died and who escorted his body out of Syria was, along with Shadid, among of the four journalists captured and held in Libya less than a year ago in the early days of the uprising there. Shadid’s reporting was brave and essential there and elsewhere. His death comes just weeks before the release of a memoir, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East. Photo: The Washington Post
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millionsmillions:

It was shocking to find that New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid had died, of an asthma attack of all things, while reporting in Syria, especially when he’s put himself in harm’s way so many other times and emerged unscathed. Tyler Hicks, the Times photographer who was with Shadid when he died and who escorted his body out of Syria was, along with Shadid, among of the four journalists captured and held in Libya less than a year ago in the early days of the uprising there. Shadid’s reporting was brave and essential there and elsewhere. His death comes just weeks before the release of a memoir, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East.

Photo: The Washington Post

(via onedirectionfacingmecca)

Source: millionsmillions