Sir Richard Branson says the War on Drugs is a war on black people
What many people have been saying for years. Unfortunately, it had to be a white billionaire to say out loud what we’re all thinking so that this shit can be “taken seriously” once and for all. Sigh.
Sir Richard Branson has spoken up and out against the War on Drugs in the United States. Branson recently noted that the policies are racist and represent a “war on black people.” The billionaire made the remarks during an interview with the Metro newspaper.
“The fundamental difference [in drug policy] in America is that it is a war against black people. 85 percent of people who go to prison for drug use in America are black people. They don’t take more drugs, but it’s a racist law against black people in America,” he said.
“The law should be changed. You’ve got something like 1.5 million people in American jails languishing for taking drugs and that is wrong,” said Branson, a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP). “Those people would be much better being out in society, being helped if they have drug problem, getting off the problem.”
Branson was the guest editor of the newspaper during a trip to New York City. This week, writing for “The Week,” he called for an end to the failed War on Drugs. President Obama has agreed that the policies are biased and must come to an end. But in the first term of his presidency, he was only able to reduce the crack-to-powder sentencing disparity from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1. This means that a five year sentence for powder cocaine translates to a 90-year sentence for crack, which continues to represent a huge disparity.
“I am part of the global commission on drugs, and it consists of 15 ex-presidents from South America, it consists of people like Kofi Annan, Paul Volcker, George Schultz, and ex-presidents from Switzerland and Greece and other places,” Branson said.
then father will definitely agree with the way of the quincy❞
❝when you understand your father's heart, and find the thing you want to protect,
if you still want to be a quincy after that...❞
Posts tagged: racism
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The NYPD Declares Martial Law in BrooklynThursday, March 14, 2013 20:110(Before It’s News) On the heels of three nights of protests over the police slaying of 16 year old Kimani Gray, the NYPD has turned the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn into a State of Exception, claiming emergency powers to suspend the constitutional guarantees of the citizenry.The people regularly targeted by police harassment and violence, overwhelmingly the city’s poor and minority populations, have taken to the streets to speak out against the NYPD’s draconian tactics. The police have in turn responded with even further harsh measures by suppressing the right of the people to voice dissatisfaction with that very same police force.Cops kettled protesters at Wednesday night’s candlelight vigil, resulting in 46 arrests. Police even arrested Kimani Gray’s distraught sister, Mahnefeh.The NYPD euphemistically calls the public spaces in which the Constitutional rights of the people are suspended “frozen zones.”Allison Kilkenny wrote about the NYPD’s so-called “frozen zones” in December 2011:“The ‘frozen zone’ is an arbitrary, official police business-sounding title that has absolutely zero legal merit. It’s something the NYPD made up, just as the ‘First Amendment zone’ is something [Los Angeles Mayor Antonio] Villaraigosa made up to suppress media coverage of the Occupy raids.”According to FIERCE, the “frozen zone” in East Flatbush is being used to prevent media from covering the protests and arrests. Meanwhile, people inside the “frozen zone” can be subjected to arrest merely by exercising their constitutional rights.“It basically means the area is under temporary martial law,” writes FIERCE. “The last times the NYPD declared a Frozen Zone was on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and during the beginning of OWS.”An arbitrary dictate that arrests protest and free speech, set forth by the institution that is itself the target of the protests, creates a potentially dangerous precedent of placing the NYPD beyond reproach.Occupy Austin reposted this poignant summary of events by Jen Roesch as they were unfolding in Brooklyn last night:“East Flatbush, Brooklyn is under martial law as the NYPD declares it a ‘frozen zone’. Media are being monitored and kept from moving and reporting freely. Dozens of arrests and much brutality. Kimani was shot in the back seven times; a witness is sure he was unarmed; multiple reports are coming out that the police had been waging a campaign of harassment against the young man (including taunting him about a friend who had died in a car accident and threatening to shoot him when he tried to leave). This is just blocks from where Shantel Davis was shot, dragged from her car and left to bleed to death in the street last summer. After that shooting, police went to all the surrounding delis and confiscated their surveillance videos. Residents in the neighborhood live in a state of terror. Heartbreaking, enraging, the stuff that riots are made of. This city is at a breaking point.”Kimani Gray’s parents are scheduled to hold a press conference this evening to address the March 9 police slaying of their young son.
WHERE IS THIS IN THE NEWS?????
Seriously, the front page of liberal news sites have five stories about Newtown and gay marriage but nothing on this???
Here’s another article, saying basically the same thing. http://rt.com/usa/brooklyn-protest-police-288/
What the hell is going in in Brooklyn?
YIKES, what?](http://24.media.tumblr.com/3f9c3ba492018ad6aa4d8ab1b63e25b3/tumblr_mjpkk9Cmez1r3vtmjo1_1280.jpg)
The NYPD Declares Martial Law in Brooklyn
Thursday, March 14, 2013 20:11
0
(Before It’s News) On the heels of three nights of protests over the police slaying of 16 year old Kimani Gray, the NYPD has turned the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn into a State of Exception, claiming emergency powers to suspend the constitutional guarantees of the citizenry.
The people regularly targeted by police harassment and violence, overwhelmingly the city’s poor and minority populations, have taken to the streets to speak out against the NYPD’s draconian tactics. The police have in turn responded with even further harsh measures by suppressing the right of the people to voice dissatisfaction with that very same police force.
Cops kettled protesters at Wednesday night’s candlelight vigil, resulting in 46 arrests. Police even arrested Kimani Gray’s distraught sister, Mahnefeh.
The NYPD euphemistically calls the public spaces in which the Constitutional rights of the people are suspended “frozen zones.”
Allison Kilkenny wrote about the NYPD’s so-called “frozen zones” in December 2011:
“The ‘frozen zone’ is an arbitrary, official police business-sounding title that has absolutely zero legal merit. It’s something the NYPD made up, just as the ‘First Amendment zone’ is something [Los Angeles Mayor Antonio] Villaraigosa made up to suppress media coverage of the Occupy raids.”
According to FIERCE, the “frozen zone” in East Flatbush is being used to prevent media from covering the protests and arrests. Meanwhile, people inside the “frozen zone” can be subjected to arrest merely by exercising their constitutional rights.
“It basically means the area is under temporary martial law,” writes FIERCE. “The last times the NYPD declared a Frozen Zone was on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and during the beginning of OWS.”
An arbitrary dictate that arrests protest and free speech, set forth by the institution that is itself the target of the protests, creates a potentially dangerous precedent of placing the NYPD beyond reproach.
Occupy Austin reposted this poignant summary of events by Jen Roesch as they were unfolding in Brooklyn last night:
“East Flatbush, Brooklyn is under martial law as the NYPD declares it a ‘frozen zone’. Media are being monitored and kept from moving and reporting freely. Dozens of arrests and much brutality. Kimani was shot in the back seven times; a witness is sure he was unarmed; multiple reports are coming out that the police had been waging a campaign of harassment against the young man (including taunting him about a friend who had died in a car accident and threatening to shoot him when he tried to leave). This is just blocks from where Shantel Davis was shot, dragged from her car and left to bleed to death in the street last summer. After that shooting, police went to all the surrounding delis and confiscated their surveillance videos. Residents in the neighborhood live in a state of terror. Heartbreaking, enraging, the stuff that riots are made of. This city is at a breaking point.”
Kimani Gray’s parents are scheduled to hold a press conference this evening to address the March 9 police slaying of their young son.WHERE IS THIS IN THE NEWS?????
Seriously, the front page of liberal news sites have five stories about Newtown and gay marriage but nothing on this???
Here’s another article, saying basically the same thing. http://rt.com/usa/brooklyn-protest-police-288/
What the hell is going in in Brooklyn?
YIKES, what?
As vice refers to evil habit or practice, Im assuming they were attempting to expose the folly (foolishness, foolish decisions) of electing Ms. Lawrence to win over Miss Wallace. I’m assuming, in conjunction with being well-known for their harsh, take-no-prisoners style of satire, someone was particularly angry regarding Quvenzhané Wallis’ snub by the academy this evening. I’m assuming.
But the thing about it is this: abusing children is never satirical. It’s never funny. It’s never useful.
Now, I’m sure some of you will tell me about Jonathan Swift suggesting babies to be eaten. I’m sure you will - because that’s probably your first experience with satire and farcical writing to prove a point. But there’s one fundamental difference between Swift and tonight’s tweet from The Onion: they targeted a single, 9 year old, black, female individual. Jonathan Swift did not.
These people targeted a black girl, a 9 year old black girl with a sexist slur that is ONLY reserved for expressing the maximum amount of disrespect, vitriol, and violence possible with one word. In the same night, they did not refer to a single adult female or white child female with a single slur. They did not poke “fun” at any female celebrity (or male celebrity) using such a blood-laced term as cunt.
They did, however, make sure to use the word ‘nigger’, uncensored, in relation to Quentin Tarantino’s film, Django, Unchained. Mind you, not in relation to Tarantino himself (As in, “Film Director Tarantino Admits on Red Carpet His Preoccupation With The Word N*gger is Because He Actually Is One” or “Director/Hack Actor Tarantino Finally Proves True White People’s Claims of N*ggers Being in Every Race.”), but simply to say it. This is not satire! However you may have been convinced previously as to what satire may be, I’m here to tell you this is not it.
Satirical content would have been more like “Academy Admits To Not Giving Actress Quvenzhané Wallis Academy Award Because Her Name is Too Hard For Them to Pronounce.”
Oh, wait, that’s not satire. That actually happened.
In the span of tonight, Host Seth McFarlane succeeded in using Miss Wallis in a joke alluding to pedophilia and child abuse and The Onion labeled her a “cunt” under the guise of satire.
The point isn’t the bad satire. The point isn’t the bad joke. The point is that a well known organization thought (and still thinks) using a violent slur like cunt to refer to a 9 year old person is okay - and beyond that, a 9 year old black girl. This would not fly if it had been said about Elle Fanning. This would not fly if it had been said about Lindsay Lohan in her Parent Trap years. This would not fly if it had been said about Anna Paquin during her child acting days. This would not fly if it had been said about Drew Barrymore during her E.T. days. This would not fly. This dog would not hunt for any of them - so why should it for Quvenzhané Wallis?
I won’t be reading or supporting The Onion again. I’d like them to apologize to Miss Wallis, and to us for having to read it. I’ll also be finding out who advertises with them, and I’ll be copying this letter to them and letting them know I won’t be buying their products as long as an apology isn’t issued from The Onion.
What kind of world is it where the reaction to a young girl of color’s success as an actress is to call her the most vile names possible? I honestly want to know.
No one is as despised as little girls. And it’s something we should all be furious about.
We need to talk about race in Homestuck.
Turn off your knee-jerk reactions, stop rolling your eyes at the people who are “over-reacting” and listen for just a moment.
I love Homestuck because it’s a safe space for me. As a queer reader, I’m surrounded in my day-to-day life by people who are homophobic, people who might make me feel unwelcome, people who might hurt me. It’s really, really nice to escape into a fantasy world where a whole bevy of queer characters explore themselves and grow and learn completely unhindered by homophobia. I appreciate Homestuck’s queer characters and storylines. I need them. I’m honestly tearing up right now, and I didn’t think I would get so emotional about this; having access to a story where teenage characters are free to explore relationships with one another without being condemned for who they are has been so, so important to me.
Andrew Hussie has explicitly said, both in correspondence with fans and in the text of his comic, that all the trolls are pansexual. Gender is no object for them when it comes to romance. When John explains heterosexuality to Karkat, he wonders “how it can even be a thing.”
And time and time again, throughout the comic, the message has been reiterated: it’s okay to be a girl with a girlfriend or a boy with a boyfriend. People in queer relationships have the same problems as people in straight relationships, and their stories get equal weight within the story.
Like I said before, I need Homestuck’s queer storylines. I think all of media needs to get on this level of queer representation. I think Hussie has done a good job in this area, with the exception of a few homophobic slurs dropped carelessly here and there throughout the text of the comic.
Now, let’s look at another area where Hussie hasn’t done such a good job: race representation.
The characters in Homestuck are “canonically aracial” - except they’re not. When Kanaya sees Rose for the first time, she remarks that her skin is “white as snow.” Bro Strider is described by John as “a lame white rapper.” John and Jane’s supposed great-grandfather - the one they think they are biologically descended from - is described as a racist Southern plantation owner. The trolls consistently describe the skin colour of the kids as “pink.”
And yet, despite all this, despite the text of the comic confirming that, yes, these characters are white, despite the total lack of any markers that would point to any of the characters being non-white, Hussie continued to insist that the characters had no race.
And then he said that anybody who said otherwise was a racist bigot.
Let’s get back to queer representation for just a moment. What if Hussie had said, “Yeah, all the trolls are pansexual,” but every romantic relationship that he wrote was about a boy and a girl? What if Karkat made some comment about how, say, in Alternian culture, “the bride and the groom” do x, y, z at troll weddings? What if Nepeta said, “Oh, I just wish a boy would notice me?”
As a queer reader, I might start to pick up on this. I’d say, “Hey, Hussie, I thought all the trolls were pansexual - it would sure be nice to see some queer relationships!”
Say the fandom responded to my criticism with, “Get over it, you’re overreacting, you’re a social justice warrior with too much time on your hands.”
Say Hussie responded to my criticism with, “You’re a bigot - pansexual people have straight relationships, too, and I’m representing pansexuality accurately.”
And then, a few months down the road, Jane goes trickster, corners Jake, and says, “I feel so heterosexual!”
Wouldn’t that feel like a punch in the stomach? How would you feel if you were promised queer representation and repeatedly denied it and then mocked in the text of the comic, mocked by the fandom - all because you wanted a character to identify with?
Essentially, Hussie created eight white characters in a row, described them as white, and then, when his readers demanded race representation, said that his characters had no race.
And then he went ahead and made Jane white anyway.
You have to understand that the people who are upset about this aren’t social justice warriors looking to fill a quota so that their favourite webcomic will be as politically correct as possible. These are your fellow readers, your friends, who just wanted to be able to think that maybe their favourite character’s skin was the same colour as theirs.
I just googled movie times in my city and pulled up a list of films playing at the theatre closest to me. Gangster Squad - four white people on the poster. Les Miserables - all-white cast. Zero Dark Thirty - white people torturing brown people. This is 40 - white. The Hobbit - white. Silver Linings Playbook - white. Skyfall - white. Django Unchained and Lincoln - movies where representation of people of colour is tied to stories of slavery.
Do you get it? People of colour don’t get to see themselves on the big screen except as slaves and terrorists. That’s a huge, huge problem.
Homestuck was supposed to be a solution to that problem.
Hussie promised aracial characters.
He promised safe space and something like representation for people who hardly ever get to see themselves represented in media the way white people are.
He promised that anyone, anywhere, could look at Jane and say, “Cool, my favourite character can be black/Hispanic/Asian/Native American/East Indian/Middle Eastern/biracial, just like me.”
And, after making that promise, he turned Jane’s skin white.
Post racial America, y’all!!!
Not strictly academic, but close enough. I’m Asian American and was taking a plane back to my university to finish up my PhD in English Literature and teach a composition class. The man sitting next to me asked me why I was flying from the West Coast to the Midwest. I told him I was going to the University of ________.
He asked me why I was going to the university so I told him I teach English.
He says, “You mean you’re learning English.”
“No,” I say. “I’m teaching English.”
“You see,” he replies, “You are confusing the words ‘teach’ and ‘learn.’ You are learning English.”
Covergirl, I know you have a bad history of whitewashing WOC in your ads, but do I really have to explain why lightening Sofia Vergara beyond recognition in an advertisement for “the clean look” is beyond fucked up?
And then you shamelessly ran this ad in a People Magazine Spanish edition which also featured a story about Vergara, in which we can see clearly that this is not what she looks like (although who knows how inaccurate those pictures might be.) You’re selling “clean” foundation to the Spanish speaking population using a gorgeous Colombian actress while showing everyone that she wasn’t white enough for you. (Not to even mention the daisy imagery being juxtaposed in there as well.)
You’re not even trying to pretend that you’re not racist.
Lupe Fiasco draws excellent parallels between blackface comedy and entertainers like Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne.
this is some of the realest shit i’ve ever seen
This is stunning.
As many as 15 percent of freshmen at America’s top schools are white students who failed to meet their university’s minimum standards for admission, according to Peter Schmidt, deputy editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education. These kids are “people with a long-standing relationship with the university,” or in other words, the children of faculty, wealthy alumni and politicians.
According to Schmidt, these unqualified but privileged kids are nearly twice as common on top campuses as Black and Latino students who had benefited from affirmative action.
Whenever I’m with my little sister.
THIS SHIT WAS NEVER FUCKING CUTE.
