Category Archives: Government Oppression

Texas Governor Greg Abbott added that "prompt and thorough investigations" into gender-affirming care for trans-youth would take place.

In a statement to Variety, Elliot said: "I am horrified by the inhumane and downright dangerous declarations by the Texas Governor and Attorney General.

"Trans youth deserve gender-affirming care and to be able to live their true, authentic selves without fear and oppression. I stand with trans youth and their families."

Gabrielle Union has also hit out at the new laws, with similar legislation being passed in Florida.

She tweeted: "This is where we are.

"We shot past dangerous and horrific a long time ago. The rubber has hit the road so who is standing shoulder to shoulder in this fight? Who truly gives a s*** and whose on that performative bs? Let's see. (sic)"

Prominent trans actor Jen Richards also slammed the politicians for their proposals.

The 'Better Things' star wrote on Twitter: "Texas has dec lared that the kind of care recommended by every major medical and paediatric association, with decades of proof of efficacy, and provided by doctors in full cooperation with parents... is child abuse."

Richards added: "We know what the result will be. Because trans people exist, have always existed, and will always exist, it just means that trans youth will be more at risk, more vulnerable, at home and in schools. They will be kicked out or run away and suicide rates will spike."

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Elliot Page has condemned Texas government officials for declaring that medical care for transgender youths is child abuse - 01-Mar-2022 - NZ...

The first time DePaul junior, Ariana Collazo heard of an Afro-Latina individual in school was last year during her Afro Caribbean class when Haitian American novelist Edwidge Danticat came to speak to her class.

Listening to her story was really inspiring and Ill never forget watching her, said Collazo.

Collazo said she felt connected to the authors experience of being ostracized and the way classmates treated her differently growing up, coming from a Puerto Rican and African American background.

Collazo said she remembers being teased by elementary school kids when they found out that her mom was African American. Of course, not speaking Spanish, theyd always be like How are you a real Puerto Rican if you cant even speak Spanish, and your mom is Black? Collazo said.

Although in the U.S 5 percent of the population identifies as Afro-Latino according to2019 Pew Research,there are around 150 million Afro Latinos in Latin Americas 540 million total population according to aCRS Report.

The histories of Afro-Latinas have been largely erased from most educational discourses leaving individuals to learn about it on their own and deal with the repercussions of not seeing themselves represented.

The invisibility of Afro-Latinos in popular discourse and media leads many young individuals to wrestle with the validity of their ethnic identity.

Dr. Jacqueline Laz associate dean and professor at Depaul said, Not having your narratives centered in any historical tradition, cultural tradition, that you belong to makes you feel excluded. It makes you feel like youre not worthy, it makes you feel like your experience and your history and who you are doesnt matter.

The community also holds colorist ties causing Afro-Latinos to feel that they must favor their Latino instead of their Black roots in order to avoid prejudice, a common occurrence if they have a lighter complexion.

Michelle Bueno Vasquez a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University studying political science and transnational Afro-Latino diaspora, said For some people, thats a difficult thing to reckon with, that youre going to introduce that difference and expose yourself to racist harm, subconsciously some folks just dont want to go there, they would rather not identify as Black.

According to a study by the State University of New York at Albany, Latinos who identify themselves as Black have lower-incomes, higher unemployment rates, higher poverty rates, less education, and fewer opportunities than those who identify themselves as White or other.

Bueno Vasquez said the mobilization of Latino political organizations has encouraged many Afro-Latinos to identify themselves with Latinos instead of their Black roots in order to gain more funding from the government.

This tactical behavior leads to minority movement essentialization when minority movements set defining cultural or biological characteristics that are shared by all members to create a unified category that benefits the majority within the minority.

It leaves people like myself, Afro-Latinos or indigenous Latinos, or Latinos who dont speak Spanish like Brazilians, Haitians in the dust and doesnt provide for our safety, our inclusion, and our benefits, and uses funds that essentially we helped them get, said Bueno Vasquez.

Afro-Latinos denying their Blackness, It also means you have to deny parts of yourself and probably encounter a lot of microaggressions in order to be in those spaces, said Bueno Vasquez.

Bueno Vasquez and Collazo were among the many Afro-Latina women that experienced low self-esteem in their youth.

Bueno Vasquez said she recalls around the ages of nine or 10, I would pray to God that I would wake up being lighter and having straighter hair and green eyes whereas Collazo said she remembers thinking she was ugly.

Bueno Vasquez said educating girls of Afro-Latina histories and seeing them in the media at an early age can be beneficial because it can help bypass the self-hatred and self-effacing period many go through.

Bueno Vasquez advises people to acknowledge the internal racism that everyone has in terms of ones appearance and others. She said to question why one may find certain qualities to be attractive because When we think of sexual attraction or taste, its a lot of times reproduction of learned racist hierarchies and things we think afford privilege.

Laz said that the problem lies within the dominant Westernized beauty standards that Latin America and the United States have constructed to purposefully cast a negative image of people with dark complexions.

Laz said Afro-Latinas must be willing to understand and change the ways in which we may ourselves be even unwittingly complicit in reinforcing those beauty standards and systems of oppression. We should demand representation and advocate for the inclusion of Black and Indigenous women in the spaces we see us missing.

For more information on advancing the visibility of Black Latinidad visit theAfro-Latino Forumonline.

Cover Graphic by Jocelyn Diaz

Jacqueline Cardenas is an undergrad sophomore majoring in journalism with a concentration in Latino Communication at DePaul University. She is a first-generation Mexican-American student and aspires to diversify the news industry. She loves nature and reading in her spare time.Twitter: @jackiecardenas_

The Chicago Reporter is dedicated to showcasing the work of talented journalism students.

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Afro-Latinas Stress The Complexity Of Their Roots - Chicago Reporter

Did you forget Valentines Day this year, or wish you had celebrated it differently? If you live in Ottawa, you have a rare chance at a do-over.

Ottawa city council unanimously approved a motion to redo Valentines Day on March 14 this year, in the wake of the three-week Freedom Convoy protest that took over the citys downtown.

"Our heart-shaped city needs a little love," said Coun. Mathieu Fleury, who presented the motion.

City Officials: WE ARE RESCHEDULING VALENTINES DAY TO MARCH 14th

Men in Ottawa:

Giphy Images.

The people of Ottawa thought they were free. Well, free from having to buy bullshit and spend crazy money on an overpriced, pre-fixed menu because society and now the Government say you have to. All these people thought they had made it. They pretended to be so gosh darn mad at those truckers for ruining Valentines that they TOTALLYwanted to celebrate.

It's been a crazy month in Ottawa. All politics is local. So sure, you might be someone who was extremely annoyed by the truckers protest in your city, but at least they saved you from having to define your relationship. If you're political movement is trying to win hearts and minds and they just kicked the can down the road on an uncomfortable discussion with the person you're currently fucking, then that is a win for the protest. The Government coming back in force the issue is just the latest example of government overreach and how disgustingly out of touch they are with their constituents. I am a romantic (you seen the Ozzie pic?). I love love. Even I hate Valentine's. A trumped up social obligation to come through a mere months after you dropped too much cash on Christmas gifts and New Years Eve. And that is if you are in an established relationship. Maybe you are young and fun and met a young and fun person on NYE and now you need to decide if you want to stop being young and fun with that person and be only with that person for an extended period of time all because the government said V-Day is a back on an arbitrary Monday. The Monday AFTER when most big St Patrick's Day celebrations will occur. That is a brutal. Fucking Ottawa, man. Leave your people alone. If couples want to reschedule their valentine's day that should be their own choice. They should decide how and when they want to celebrate their love and it shouldn't be government mandate.

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Ottawa Oppression Continues: The Capital City Is Now Forcing Couples To Define Their Relationship By Moving St Valentine's Day To March - Barstool...

We have met today to discuss the gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades. We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, enabled by Belarus. We call on Russia to immediately cease its military assault, to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine and to turn back from the path of aggression it has chosen. This long-planned attack on Ukraine, an independent, peaceful and democratic country, is brutal and wholly unprovoked and unjustified. We deplore the tragic loss of life, enormous human suffering and destruction caused by Russias actions. Peace on the European continent has been fundamentally shattered. The world will hold Russia, as well as Belarus, accountable for their actions. We call on all states to condemn this unconscionable attack unreservedly. No one should be fooled by the Russian governments barrage of lies.

Russia bears full responsibility for this conflict. It has rejected the path of diplomacy and dialogue repeatedly offered to it by NATO and Allies. It has fundamentally violated international law, including the UN Charter. Russias actions are also a flagrant rejection of the principles enshrined in the NATO-Russia Founding Act: it is Russia that has walked away from its commitments under the Act. President Putins decision to attack Ukraine is a terrible strategic mistake, for which Russia will pay a severe price, both economically and politically, for years to come. Massive and unprecedented sanctions have already been imposed on Russia. NATO will continue to coordinate closely with relevant stakeholders and other international organisations including the EU. At the invitation of the Secretary General, we were joined today by Finland, Sweden and the European Union.

We stand in full solidarity with the democratically elected president, parliament and government of Ukraine and with the brave people of Ukraine who are now defending their homeland. Our thoughts are with all those killed, injured and displaced by Russias aggression, and with their families. NATO remains committed to all the foundational principles underpinning European security, including that each nation has the right to choose its own security arrangements. We will continue to provide political and practical support to Ukraine as it continues to defend itself and call on others to do the same. We reaffirm our unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, including its territorial waters. This principled position will never change.

In light of Russias actions, we will draw all the necessary consequences for NATOs deterrence and defence posture. Allies have held consultations under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty. We will continue to take all measures and decisions required to ensure the security and defence of all Allies. We have deployed defensive land and air forces in the eastern part of the Alliance, and maritime assets across the NATO area. We have activated NATOs defence plans to prepare ourselves to respond to a range of contingencies and secure Alliance territory, including by drawing on our response forces. We are now making significant additional defensive deployments of forces to the eastern part of the Alliance. We will make all deployments necessary to ensure strong and credible deterrence and defence across the Alliance, now and in the future. Our measures are and remain preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory.

Our commitment to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is iron-clad. We stand united to protect and defend all Allies. Freedom will always win over oppression.

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Statement by NATO Heads of State and Government on Russia's attack on Ukraine - NATO HQ

In addition to official government sanctions, bars and liquor storesacross theU.S. and Canada are attemptingto economically hurt Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraineby refusing to sell Russian vodka and other Russian liquor.

Ontario joins Canadas allies in condemning the Russian governments act of aggression against the Ukrainian people, and will direct the[Liquor Control Board of Ontario] to withdraw all products produced in Russia from store shelves, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tweeted,adding the hashtag #StandwithUkraine.

The people of Ontario will always stand against tyranny and oppression, Bethlenfalvy later added.

Bethlenfalvys announcement came shortly after the Canadian Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation said that it would also remove Russian products.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, along with other Liquor jurisdictions throughout Canada, has made the decision to remove products of Russian origin from its shelves, the NLC Liquor Corporation tweeted.

The Corporation will no longer sell Russian Standard Vodka or Russian Standard Platinum Vodka in an effort to condemn Moscows recent actions.

Liquor stores and bars in the U.S. have also boycottedthe sale of Russian-made liquor.

Jamie Stratton,manager of the Jacob Liquor Exchange in Wichita, Kan., told The Hillthathis store removed more than 100 bottles of Russian vodka from its shelves, referring to it as atiny sanction.

He also noted that the store plans on displaying Ukrainian vodka more prominently.

Meanwhile, aski resort in Vermontposted a videoof a bartender pouring Stoli vodka down the drain while saying "We don't serve Russian products here."

Sorry @Stoli lovers. No more," Magic Mountain Ski Area tweeted, along with an emoji of the Ukrainian flag.

Bill McCormick, owner of Pine Tavern in Bend, Ore.,also shared avideo sharedof himpouring out two bottles of Stolichnaya vodka, KPTV reported.

Russia is acting as though its 1939 and going into Europe with a full force that they have in the Ukraine. I am so concerned about it metastasizing into other countries, he told the outlet.

Lisa Conley-Kendzior contributed.

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Liquor stores in Canada, US refusing to sell Russian vodka | TheHill - The Hill

The Freedom Convoy bitcoin fundraiser received a lot of positive attention, gathering almost 1 million CAD in bitcoin donations. After all, what better tool could there be to circumvent the censorship of payments while protesting a government than a censorship-resistant currency free of state control? But the tactics used to distribute funds may tell a different story.

When a Canadian judge froze millions of dollars in GoFundMe donations to the Canadian trucker protests in the end of January, Bitcoiners were quick to set up a donation campaign of their own via the bitcoin crowdfunding platform Tallycoin. As the campaign gained traction, numerous prominent Bitcoiners voiced their support, while some even consulted organizers on aspects related tos distribution, taxation, and possible legal threats.

This all changed with the enactment of the Emergencies Act in response to the blockade on February 14 2022, in which Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland specified the broadening of Canadas anti-money laundering and terrorism financing rules to cover crowdfunding platforms and all forms of transactions including cryptocurrencies, with the goal of strengthening law enforcements abilities to impose fines and imprisonments and prohibiting the use of property to fund or support illegal blockades. On the same day, a user by the name JW Weatherman called for the immediate distribution of funds, vowing to take legal action against prominent supporters if donations were not distributed before the protest disbursed. Naturally, many prominent supporters went AWOL in fear of legal threats, with some even going as far as deactivating their Twitter accounts.

Link to Tweet.

Not long after, discussions started to form around the smartest process to distribute funds to protesters, with many calling for accountability to prove that the funds had actually reached the protesters they were meant to support. A user called Nick, who goes by NobodyCaribou who has been highly active in the Freedom Convoy bitcoin campaign, consulted with JW Weatherman. Their goal: set up a plan to distribute funds to truckers, while maintaining full transparency over where the funds had gone.

While gathering ideas for disbursement in a public Google doc, concerns mounted. Not only were people encouraged to openly commit a crime in a public document, but they were proposing tactics which would pose serious risks for the seizability of funds. One such tactic is the video documentation of the handing over of envelopes containing bitcoin private keys to truckers, allowing recipients to be identified with the use of facial recognition software.

As the funds were distributed, videos of recipients and the handing over of bitcoin donations began circulating the web. The problem: bitcoin is censorship resistant, not censorship immune. Doxxing recipients on the world wide web can lead to the seizure of bitcoin once individuals have been identified. This is where the positive narrative for nation-states comes in seizing a money deemed to be unseizable, scaring those who may think of using bitcoin for donations against government oppression in the future. While it's obvious to most that possible seizures would not be a result of a failure of bitcoins censorship resistance but of how the disbursement of donations took place, a possible seizure of funds would give governments and media outlets grounds to claim FUD about the failure of Bitcoins censorship resistance itself.

The spread of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) has been a prominent tactic to alter public perception for decades, often seen as an extension of the concept of propaganda. By creating FUD, actors spread wrongful information through third-party contenders, creating no directly obvious connection between the actual initiators of a misinformation campaign and the misinformation spreading. The goal is to create lasting irritation amongst the public, as wrongful information causes fear and uncertainty even after being identified as such. While the fundraiser was arguably launched with good intentions to support those executing their right to protest against government mandated vaccinations, it is unclear why NobodyCaribou and JW Weatherman proceeded with their distribution plan even after concerns piled on.

Whats clear is that with the identification of recipients and the consequential possibility of seizure of funds, the narrative of Bitcoins failed censorship resistance has been handed to governments and media on a silver platter, and that such a narrative can have long-lasting discouraging effects for all those in desperate need of a money to bypass oppressive state regulations. What is also clear is that all those who have aided the donation campaign can be prosecuted for terrorist financing under Canadian criminal code part 2.1 since the invoking of the Emergencies Act, which states that Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years who, directly or indirectly, wilfully and without lawful justification or excuse, provides or collects property intending that it be used or knowing that it will be used, in whole or in part, in order to carry out (a) an act or omission that constitutes an offence referred to in subparagraphs (a)(i) to (ix) of the definition of terrorist activity in subsection 83.01(1).

As of the 22nd of February, Nick, AKA NobodyCaribou, tweeted that he is now the defendant in a class action lawsuit, likely regarding the organizing of the bitcoin fundraiser. For now we can only hope that all those affected by the donation campaign will remain safe, and that not all bitcoin donated will fall into government custody.

This is a guest post by L0la L33tz. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Bitcoins Freedom Convoy Threat Vector - Bitcoin Magazine

For anyone still nave, stubborn, or fanatical enough to believe the Covid tyranny weve been suffocating under for the past two years is about a virus, let the events unfolding in Canada disabuse you of that illusion.

Invoking the Emergencies Act to freeze bank accounts, conduct mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators and protest organizers, target reporters and photographers, and establish red zones and checkpoints, all in response to a mobilized citizenry that is weary of ineffective, illiberal, and discriminatory Covid restrictions this all smacks of dictatorship, not democracy. It certainly has nothing to do with public health.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walked back his use of the Emergencies Act this week, but the Canadian government continues to keep protesters in jail and push banks to freeze nearly C$8 million in the personal and business accounts of people who peacefully contributed to the protest before it was criminalized. Banks also have threatened to suspend loans of those on government blacklists of Canadian citizens who peacefully participated.

Meanwhile, jurisdictions around the world are hastily rolling back Covid edicts, lamely pointing to the usual fake science. Behind the scenes, governments understand what their counterparts in places like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and France seem determined to ignore: the people are no longer buying their narrative. Instead of bingeing on Covid fear porn, the real plague we should have been freaking out about is totalitarianism, the 20th centurys deadliest scourge.

The Canadian government declared war on a grassroots, non-violent protest against compulsory vaccinations and other Covid restrictions. Enabled and emboldened by a complicit press, the regime demonizes those who demand the protection of fundamental individual rights over submission to collectivist oppression. Trudeau ludicrously and disingenuously labeled protestors racists and misogynists.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland threatened that recalcitrant truckers would have their bank accounts frozen and their vehicle insurance suspended. She also announced the broadening of terrorist financing rules to encompass crowdfunding platforms, and warned that Big Brother would be coming for their cash.

Ottawa police are threatening protestors with criminal charges and financial retribution. Last week, an elderly, mobility-impaired woman was shockingly trampled by Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Police have even been targeting citizens in their own homes over social media posts.

Around the world, other aspiring dictators and their henchmen are using one hand to smother their subjects with public health love and the other to trample, beat, detain, and arrest those who disobey. Western governments are reverting to the abhorrent trends of technologically enabled totalitarian ideologies that shaped the European continent for the better part of a century.

Australia was at the cutting edge of crushing dissenters long before Ottawa. As early as September 2020, Victoria Police barged into the home of a pregnant woman and arrested her in front of her husband and two children for a Facebook post encouraging people to attend an anti-lockdown protest.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern laughed off the estimated 1,500 protestors gathered outside Parliament demanding an end to her repressive health dictatorship, as spreaders of misinformation and disinformation. Like Trudeau, Ardern is dishonest and deranged enough to keep rabbiting on that her number one priorityroughly 700 days and 56 deaths into slowing the spreadis steering New Zealand through the pandemic.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who infamously said he wanted to use the vaccine pass to piss off the unvaccinated by making life as hard as possible for them, is doing just that. French authorities responded to their countrys own Freedom Convoy by banning the demonstration, threatening heavy fines, license suspension, and jail time for unauthorized protestors. They deployed 7,200 police officers and armored vehicles, who resorted to firing teargas at bystanders including families with children, all for the peoples health and safety.

The West didnt win the day over communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 because of democracys deep roots in European soil. There were none. On the contrary, Europes interwar experiment with parliamentary democracy following the World War I collapse of the great autocratic empires was a blip on the radar.

By the mid-1930s, a crisis of capitalism and loss of trust in liberal institutions left many Europeans feeling that democracy had done its dash and individual freedoms were overrated, thus paving the way for both the tyranny of fascism and the specter of Communism. Theres a similar feeling enabling Covidianism today. Under the last centurys violent New Orders that followed this public acceptance, which led to the deaths of tens of millions of people in Europe alone, rapid technological advances enabled a self-perpetuating elite to use terror and ideology to dominate the mobilized masses in an unprecedented manner.

Significantly, the authoritarian regimes that supplanted democracy craftily used and abused democratic freedoms and institutions in order to abolish democracy itself. The National Socialists, under Adolf Hitler, rose to power using legitimate elections and the parliamentary process, then exploited an unstable and neutered legislature, a strengthened executive, and a disturbing pattern of emergency orders to trash the whole system. Across Eastern Europe after World War II, the Communist Party relied on coalition governments to get its boot in the door, then systematically began kicking out the other parties.

Theres no such thing as it cant happen here. We must always be vigilant given these terrifying lessons from history.

Seventy-five years down the track, Gen Xers, millennials, and even boomers, who grew up taking for granted that democracy is the norm rather than the status quo, are now learning in real time that liberty must be shaped, won, and preserved. This reckoning is throwing a spanner in the works of the Covid-powered totalitarian machine.

Contrary to Trudeaus propaganda about a small fringe minority with unacceptable views, protestors have turned out en masse in Toronto and Calgary to express solidarity with those demonstrating in Ottawa. Two-thirds of Canadians say its time to end Covid restrictions and learn to live with the virus.

In the United States, only one-third of Americans list Covid as a top-five issue for 2022, and 59 percent of voters support the truckers. European leaders and democratic governors and mayors across the United States, who glimpse electoral annihilation on the horizon, are spending Bidens winter of severe illness and death quietly archiving their blueprints.

It would seem that the gig is up. Twentieth-century philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt wrote that totalitarian regimes cannot survive without a fanatical mass cult, unshaken by reason, argument, or experience, that identifies with and conforms to the movement, even at their own expense.

It may be dawning on petty tyrants like Trudeau that there just arent enough Covid cultists to sustain the beast. This would explain his astonishing about-face when he announced the revocation of the Emergencies Act. After sniveling literally two days before, he had no choice but to invoke these powers, employing the abusive spouses textbook trick of I didnt want to hit you but you made me do it. The national emergency has apparently now evaporated.

On Monday, it was all about misinformation, disinformation, foreign funds, ideologically motivated violent extremism, and urging the Canadian Parliament, Weimar Republic-style, to take an ax to democracy in order to safeguard democracy. Within 48 hours, it was back to the were all in this together sweet talk about healing, working together, and fighting a virus, not each other.

Only its not about fighting a virus, and it never was. Covid-19 is a smokescreen for the most lethal plague of all. Thats the ever-present evil by which men seek to dominate the masses, smash and rebuild their minds, and bend them to some relentless dogma or ideology. Victims of this devilry invariably respond by collaborating, conforming, submittingor resisting.

Carina Benton is a dual citizen of Australia and Italy and a permanent resident of the United States. A recent West Coast migr, she is now helping to repopulate the countrys interior. She holds a masters degree in education and has taught languages, literature, and writing for many years in Catholic and Christian, as well as secular institutions. She is a practicing Catholic and a mother of two young children.

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The Plague You Should Be Freaking Out About Is Abuse Of Power - The Federalist

White silence has always played a pivotal role in the perpetuation of systematic racism here in the United States.

The sentiment of it doesnt affect me, so why should I care? plagues privileged households.

Using their white privilege as a means to blind themselves from the struggles people of color face is just as damaging as the embarrassingly conservative uncle and his outwardly racist tirades at family dinners.

Anne McCarty Braden was a journalist and organizer who worked with Rosa Parks and is mentioned in Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

John Brown was an abolitionist who assisted in the Underground Railroad.

Possibly most popularly and recently, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is another individual who was actively involved during the early parts of the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s.These are all important examples of white figures who were pivotal in the anti-racism movement

While we may be critical of white people for their lack of participation or interest in standing up for people of color, especially Black Americans, there is another group who deserves censure for their behavior: Asian Americans.

The model minority myth paints Asian Americans in a very specific light.

It describes Asians to be hard-working, intelligent, humble and dedicated.

It illuminates us as the pinnacle of the American Dream, people coming from nothing and achieving monetary success.

After all in our cruel capitalist society, that is the only metric for achievement.

However, there are many issues with these stereotypes, many of which play into the divisive racial tensions that have plagued America for decades. Most notably, the concept of the model minority does not only create a glorified stereotype of a certain group.

It also creates a problem minority, in which government bodies blame and target one group as more problematic more often: Black Americans.

The model minority myth was part of a government propaganda campaign following WWII, creating a racial hierarchy and further oppressing Black people in America.

The worst part is we, as Asian Americans, perpetuate this practice. Centuries of colorist ideologies, stemming from our ancestral countries of India, China, Korea and more, result in a disturbing sense of pride for perpetuating these stereotypes.

Many Asians, especially in the generation before us, believe people with darker skin to be lesser, even within their own ethnic groups. When people dont necessarily disagree with its claims, myths continueto live on.

When some Asians themselves have those internalized racist ideologies, they are disinterested in standing up for Black Americans because they buy into thisgovernment-sanctioned hierarch.

They enjoy seeing themselves on top. Others, who may be less conservative and traditional, are simply disinterested in standing up for Black Americans because the issues do not affectthem personally.

While my parents are sympathetic towards the Black Lives Matter Movement and were deeply concerned in 2012 when George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin and in 2020 when Derek Chauvin mercilessly killed George Floyd, they are still hesitant to stand up and speak out against these issues publicly.

They witness these brutalities and the dangerous reality of being Black in America, and though they are dismayed by what they see, to them, this is not their issue.

Some of my Asian friends have admitted to me that their parents struggle to even comprehend the point of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

While their parents understand that problems like systemic racism exist, they are unable to understand why people dont just work hard to escape poverty or move neighborhoods to escape a dangerous lifestyle.

This is the real result of the model minority myth. It has created a deep separation between minorities in America. In moments when various minorities should band together and fight systematic oppression as a team, opposition wins by pitting these groups against each other.

Further, the model minority myth actually hurts Asian populations as well.

For example, many Asian students are assumed to not need help when struggling academically.

This stereotype creates an academic standard that is difficult to live up to and actually can result in even worse performance. It also pushes the idea that being Asian is a monolith.

In reality, the term Asian refers to so many ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds, and cannot even begin to encompass their vast differences.

I, as a South Indian woman, am not even close to culturally synonymous with my Bengali roommate, let alone a Japanese or Hmong peer. This all brings us back to the real issue at hand.

Asian Americans need to destroy the model minority myth. In divisive times like the current, it is imperative that all minorities work together to overcome systematic oppression and discrimination.

It is even more important that we use our voice as the model minority to speak out against the systematic dehumanization, mass incarceration, police brutality, discrimination and all other modern-day subjugation against Black Americans.

Protesting against anti-Asian violence alone is insufficient.

If we allow this myth to continue, can we truly say we are any better than the silent white populace?

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The harmful myth of the model minority - Technique

4 min read24 February

During LGBT+ History Month, it is only natural to reflect on the advances we have made as a society.

The announcement earlier this year that, after the tireless campaigning of my colleagues Lords Lexden and Cashman, pardons and disregards would finally be extended to all who had historically been convicted of consensual same-sex activity, was a mark of just how far we have come.

But while the UK is doing so much to remove the stain of state-sponsored prejudice, Governments around the world continue to actively oppress or stand idly by while LGBT+ people continue to be persecuted under their jurisdiction.

The APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights was founded in 2015 to promote and protect the rights of LGBT+ people around the world and ensure that issues of sexual orientation and gender identity are permanently part of the UK Governments agenda.

While the fight for LGBT+ rights in the UK is by no means over the current debate about the Governments proposed conversion therapy ban is proof that sadly still too many people in the UK do not believe that LGBT+ lives are of equal validity and dignity to those of their heterosexual and cisgender peers even more work remains to be done globally.

In 2020, the APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights launched our very own Parliamentary Liaison Schemeand so far, 81 MPs and Peers have volunteered to participate.

Perhaps the most significant development for LGBT+ people globally since the foundation of the APPG was the 2018 decriminalisation of homosexuality in India, when the decision of the supreme court liberated an estimated 104 million LGBT+ people from the treat of prosecution. And every year more countries still decriminalise last year alone Bhutan and Botswana removed their oppressive laws from the statute books.

However, in 69 countries LGBT+ people still remain criminalised and in 34 of those as a result of oppressive laws introduced under British colonial administration. Even more worryingly, the picture globally is not one of predictable, if slow, progress towards greater justice. In Europe alone, Hungary has seen the introduction of its anti-LGBT law which echoes many of the injustices of our own Section 28, dozens of authorities in Poland have declared themselves LGBT-free Zones and Belarusian authorities have targeted LGBT+ organisations during the recent crackdown on anti-government protests.

Elsewhere, the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban represented an all too tangible threat to LGBT+ people, as well as women, girls and religious ethnic minorities, and I am proud of the work the UK Government has done with Rainbow Railroad to bring LGBT+ Afghans to safety and a new life in the UK.

In the face of all of this, it is reasonable to ask, what we as UK parliamentarians can best do to help, especially given our own legacy of colonial oppression. In 2020, the APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights launched our very own Parliamentary Liaison Scheme (the PLS) and so far, 81 MPs and Peers have volunteered to participate. The scheme is built upon the belief that UK parliamentarians are uniquely well placed to engage with fellow parliamentarians around the world who want to advocate for and protect the rights of LGBT+ people as well as scrutinise the work of the UK Government and its diplomatic missions to advance the rights of sexual orientation and gender identity minorities.

Each parliamentarian is assigned a jurisdiction where LGBT+ people still encounter oppression. Every member of the scheme, who we hope will be supported by an identified member of their staff, is then briefed on the current state of LGBT+ rights in that jurisdiction and connected to civil society groups and local activists, and from this year on will be invited to attend regional progress updates with the relevant FCDO minister, where they will have the opportunity to bring up the concerns of local activists.

As Parliamentary travel becomes once again feasible, the PLS will begin to facilitate fact-finding missions to countries of unique concern like Hungary. If you find yourself, this LGBT+ History month at a loss as to what you can do to empower LGBT+ people in the present, please get in touch with my office and we will happily sign you up.

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LGBT+ History Month is a time to empower those in the present - PoliticsHome

Charities have urged the UK government to welcome refugees from the conflict in Ukraine on the same scale as the thousands of families from the Balkans resettled during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.

In a letter to the Times, the charities, which include Save the Children, Amnesty International and the Refugee Council, asked the UK to lead international cooperation to handle a sudden increase in the number of people forced to flee the conflict, which threatens to be the most significant in Europe since the collapse of Yugoslavia.

The US has warned that 5 million people could be displaced by the conflict.

The UK government said its priority was to support British nationals and their families in Ukraine, and the government position was that people fleeing persecution should seek safety in the first safe country they reach.

An estimated 100,000 Ukrainians are already internally displaced after fleeing their homes to escape attack, while footage on social media shows lines of cars heading west into neighbouring Poland, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. The UN has appealed to neighbouring countries to keep their borders open to people seeking safety.

The letter from dozens of charities urged the government to implement a well-resourced initiative working with councils across the country to support Ukrainians in search of sanctuary, similar to the evacuation and resettlement programme during the Balkan conflict.

Visa applications from Ukraine for people who are not related to British nationals are currently suspended, meaning there is no legal route for them to enter the UK and claim asylum. A source told the BBC the government was scenario-planning for an increase in asylum seekers from Ukraine.

The charities said the crisis illuminates the crucial flaw in the nationality and borders bill, which discriminates against refugees who reach UK shores by illegal means, such as by boat across the channel.

The charities wrote: We urge the government to rethink this harmful bill and uphold our proud record of helping those fleeing war and oppression.

The prime minister has announced that the UK has 1,000 military troops on standby to support a humanitarian crisis in Europe, should they need to be called upon.

On Thursday, the Home Office confirmed that work, study or visit visas would be temporarily extended for some Ukrainians in the UK, or they would be able to apply for family visas or points-based immigration without leaving the country. This would grant them additional time to potentially find a job and stay in the UK for longer.

Those already on the point-based system will be able to stay longer and seasonal agricultural workers will have their visas automatically extended until the end of the year.

A government spokesperson said: Our priority has been to support British nationals and their families in Ukraine. This has included temporarily waiving application fees for those eligible under the family migration route, allowing entry for 12 months for others who did not meet the requirements and fast-tracking visas.

We continue to work with our international partners on a range of issues as the situation develops, including migration.

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Charities urge UK to welcome refugees fleeing Ukraine conflict - The Guardian