No DAPL: Shailene Woodley Arrested.

Actress Shailene Woodley being led away in handcuffs after standing with the water protectors at a Dakota Access oil pipeline construction site on Monday October 10. Via Facebook.

Actress Shailene Woodley being led away in handcuffs after standing with the water protectors at a Dakota Access oil pipeline construction site on Monday October 10. Via Facebook.

Actress Shailene Woodley has been arrested for trespassing at one of the construction sites for the Dakota Access oil pipeline, multiple reports confirm.

She was one of 28 people taken in for criminal trespassing, according to the Bismarck Tribune, which reported that more than 200 people were demonstrating at one of the construction sites outside a 20-mile buffer that the federal government had requested the company respect.

In video streamed live on Facebook, Woodley, known for her starring turn in the Divergent movie series, speaks directly into the camera during a two-hour feed chronicling her morning at the construction site near St. Anthony, North Dakota.

“Riot police are arriving. Riot police. Are arriving. At this peaceful protest, where people are praying,” she says at the beginning of a two-hour video, which ends in her arrest.

[…]

After the protectors were asked to leave by police, Woodley was stopped as she walked back to her vehicle to do so.

“To the right of that is our motor home, and to the left of that is…. What IS that?” she can be heard saying, as the camera focuses on vehicles flanking her RV. Then she is stopped by police officers blocking the way.

They just grabbed me by my jacket,” she says into the camera. “They grabbed me by my jacket, and they have giant guns and batons and zip ties, and they’re not letting me go.”

A little while later, after she unsuccessfully tries to find out why she is being detained specifically, an officer tells her, “You were identified.”

She then speaks to the camera.

“So everybody knows, we were going to my vehicle, which they had surrounded,” she said. “And waiting for me.”

Full Story at ICTMN.

Breaking: Court Denies Standing Rock Injunction.

Courtesy Red Warrior Camp/Facebook A three-judge panel has denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for an injunction that would stop work on the oil pipeline that is slated to go through treaty-protected, sacred burial sites.

Courtesy Red Warrior Camp/Facebook
A three-judge panel has denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for an injunction that would stop work on the oil pipeline that is slated to go through treaty-protected, sacred burial sites.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II vowed to continue fighting the Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL) after a three-judge panel on Sunday October 9 denied the tribe’s request for an injunction that would have stopped the pipeline’s progress through treaty-protected, sacred burial grounds.

“The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not backing down from this fight,” said Archambault in a statement after the decision came down at 4 p.m. “We are guided by prayer, and we will continue to fight for our people. We will not rest until our lands, people, waters and sacred places are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline.”

In a two-page ruling, U.S. District Court judges Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas B. Griffith and Cornelia T.L. Pillard acknowledged the “narrow and stringent standard” that formed their legal parameters and noted that key permits allowing the pipeline to cross under the Missouri River are still pending. It also gave a nod to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, noting it “was intended to mediate precisely the disparate perspectives involved in a case such as this one.”

The ruling came down as Native leaders gathered in Phoenix for the 73rd Annual Convention & Marketplace of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), as members participated in a Department of Interior water consultation with tribes at the Phoenix Convention Center. There was an audible gasp of disappointment from the 150 or more attendees at the consultation as NCAI President Brian Cladoosby announced that the court had denied Standing Rock’s appeal of an initial denial on September 9.

While disappointed, Cladoosby expressed some hope for closer study of the consultation process in general.

“But they left I think a window open for our trustee the federal government to really examine the 106 process and make sure that their consultation process is adequate for projects like this one that affects tribes at this level,” he told ICTMN.

The consultation had followed a day-long National Water Summit hosted by the Intertribal Council of Arizona and the Native American Rights Fund. Presenters from federal, tribal and state organizations and agencies had shared information about current Indian water rights settlements, implementation processes, economic development and protecting tribal water quality from climate change and the impact of drought. The decision to engage tribes in consultations regarding federal processes surrounding negotiation and reviewing Indian water rights settlements and potential improvements to the process had been motivated partially by the controversy in Standing Rock, Interior Deputy Secretary Mike Connor told Indian Country Today Media Network.

Thousands of water protectors have gathered in camps near the Standing Rock reservation in support of keeping the DAPL away from Lake Oahe, the tribe’s source of drinking water.

“This ruling puts 17 million people who rely on the Missouri River at serious risk,” said Archambault in the statement. “And, already, the Dakota Access Pipeline has led to the desecration of our sacred sites when the company bulldozed over the burials of our Lakota and Dakota ancestors. This is not the end of this fight. We will continue to explore all lawful options to protect our people, our water, our land, and our sacred places.”

The U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies reiterated their request for a work stoppage within a 20-mile buffer zone around Lake Oahe, but with the denial of the injunction, compliance on the part of Energy Transfer Partners is once again voluntary, the Bismarck Tribune reported after the decision.

“The federal government recognizes what is at stake and has asked DAPL to halt construction,” said Archambault in the tribe’s statement. “We hope that they will comply with that request.”

“We call on Dakota Access to heed the government’s request to stand down around Lake Oahe,” added Jan Hasselman, lead attorney from Earthjustice, which is representing the tribe. “Continuing construction before the decision is made would be a tragedy given what we know about the importance of this area.”

The justices noted that other permits are still pending, and that the pipeline can’t proceed until those issues are resolved.

“But ours is not the final word,” they wrote. “A necessary easement still awaits government approval—a decision Corps’ counsel predicts is likely weeks away; meanwhile, Intervenor DAPL has rights of access to the limited portion of pipeline corridor not yet cleared—where the Tribe alleges additional historic sites are at risk. We can only hope the spirit of Section 106 may yet prevail.”

Via ICTMN. Stay woke, stay informed, help if you can. You don’t need money – signal boosting and spreading the word is more helpful than you can possibly know. A whole lot of non-Native people don’t have the slightest idea of what’s happening, even as close as Montana, which is right next door. Cops are going apeshit, breaking out all the military gear, and itching to hurt people. We need people to know what is going on, so if you can do nothing else, please, please, spread the word, spread links, get a chain of wakefulness going!

https://twitter.com/RuthHHopkins . https://twitter.com/lastrealindians . https://twitter.com/zhaabowekwe . https://twitter.com/SimonMoyaSmith . https://twitter.com/indiancountry . https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoDAPL

Columbus Didn’t Kill Us All: Taino Daca.

Amy Majagua'naru Ponce Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Alex Zacarias and Taino Daca (I Am) lead character Roberto Mukaro Borrero - Amy Majagua'naru Ponce

Amy Majagua’naru Ponce
Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Alex Zacarias and Taino Daca (I Am) lead character Roberto Mukaro Borrero – Amy Majagua’naru Ponce

Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Alex Zacarias recently spoke to ICTMN about his new documentary, Taino Daca (I Am). The 10-year project, set to be released this fall, takes on the grand challenge of revealing new truths about the history, survival and identity of the Taino people, the first indigenous contact for Christopher Columbus when he mistakenly arrived in the Caribbean.

Zacarias explains that this film has a universal story for many tribes, not just for Taino. Referring to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, he says he wants to “bring attention to that story and show that history didn’t begin in 1492, that there are thousands of years of ‘our story.’ The intent of the documentary is to bring awareness of our Taino story that we might be able to engage with government.”

The Taino have struggled to get recognition since history books have long declared them to be an extinct people. “I am enrolled as a Taino through the United Confederation of Taino People, and I have identified as Taino through the U.S. Census.”

You can read the full story of this documentary about the Taino People here, and watch the trailer below:

Full story at ICTMN.

Reuniting Turtle Island: The 2016 Journeys.

Bibi Mildred Karaira Gandia thanks her 8-year-old great niece and PDJ runner Gabby, with a necklace during the ceremony. Amy Morris.

Bibi Mildred Karaira Gandia thanks her 8-year-old great niece and PDJ runner Gabby, with a necklace during the ceremony. Amy Morris.

Every four years since 1992, indigenous communities have been spiritually reuniting the Western hemisphere by participating in The Peace and Dignity Journeys. This massive undertaking is a chain of spiritual runs that cross the continents and connect the regions of North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. The endeavor is an effort to fulfill the ancient reunion prophecy of the Eagle and Condor.

As explained in the short film Shift of the Ages, the Eagle represents the Northern hemisphere, a masculine energy, and the Condor represents the Southern hemisphere, a feminine energy. The harmony between indigenous cultures across both continents, the union of North and South, was shattered by the arrival of Europeans, who brought genocide and a decimation of the traditional ways.

Peace and Dignity runner from Kingston Jamaica, Kalaan Robert Nibonrix (Taino), formally greeting elder Chumsey Harjo (Muscogee Creek Nation) during the closing ceremony of the Eastern Red Tail Hawk route July 23, 2016. (Amy Morris)

Peace and Dignity runner from Kingston Jamaica, Kalaan Robert Nibonrix (Taino), formally greeting elder Chumsey Harjo (Muscogee Creek Nation) during the closing ceremony of the Eastern Red Tail Hawk route July 23, 2016. (Amy Morris)

One interpretation of the prophecy from the Peruvian shaman Lauro Hinostroza states that for 500 years, beginning around the 16th century, the Eagle would dominate. This timeframe coincides with the onset of colonization and the profound shift in the way indigenous cultures functioned between the continents and among their own communities.

The prediction says that at the end of the 500 year cycle, an opportunity would come forth for Eagle and Condor to unite again and begin to restore balance to the world.

[Read more…]

NYC: Indigenous Peoples Celebration.

NY Indigenous Peoples Celebration, October 10 - www.redhawkcouncil.org

NY Indigenous Peoples Celebration, October 10 – www.redhawkcouncil.org

On October 10th 2016, 9 Indigenous organizations in New York City will again unify to bring awareness of Indigenous Peoples Day, traditionally celebrated on Columbus Day. The groups involved are the American Indian Community House, Redhawk Native American Arts Council, United Federation of Taino People, Kechiwa Nation, Halawai, Naoiwi, East Coast Two Spirit Society and Safe Harbors Indigenous Collective.

“These organizations hope to help New York City follow in the footsteps of Multnomah County, Oregon, St. Paul, Minnesota; Olympia, Washington; Traverse City, Michigan, Albuquerque and Sandoval County, and New Mexico who have all replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day,”  said organizer Cliff Matias.

“These cities and the Indigenous populations of United States are banding together to call on Americans to re-thinking who and what Columbus Day symbolizes to Indigenous people to the Americas.”

“For 2016 we once again will be rethinking Columbus Day with a focus on Indigenous people, their beautiful cultures and traditions. This free day will begin at Monday Morning with a 7am sunrise ceremony honoring the Native people around the world who have endured and survived.   Leaders, elders and medicine people from across North America, the Caribbean, Polynesian Islands and South America will sing, pray, and share their cultural traditions with guests overlooking the East River in Harlem New York. “

“The day will continue with a celebration of spoken word, music, traditional performing artists, guest speakers and contemporary performances. Where there will also be artists sharing and selling traditional works, crafts and jewelry.”

Full story here.

A Rapist, A Murderer, Deserves No Holiday.

Abolish Columbus Day. Courtesy American Indian Movement Colorado.

Abolish Columbus Day. Courtesy American Indian Movement Colorado.

[…] In my lobbying, thus far, only one person has refused to listen and acknowledge Columbus Day was harmful.

This person told me he didn’t believe in Columbus and the day didn’t exist in his world because he chose to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day instead.

“Here in Colorado,” I replied, “Columbus Day is still an issue. That holiday started here and it needs to be abolished here.”

I explained further the reason this holiday needed to be abolished – that we can no longer celebrate colonial legacies. The man continued to refuse to listen to what I was saying, and I felt like he’d argue forever, so I simply moved on.

[Read more…]

The why of the “holiday”.

Christopher Columbus. Sebastiano del Piombo/Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikipedia.

Christopher Columbus. Sebastiano del Piombo/Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikipedia.

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” is the poem many elementary schoolchildren learn, but how did a man who stole, raped, enslaved, and never even landed on Turtle Island get his own holiday?

According to History.com and the Library of Congress, the first celebration of Columbus Day took place on the 300th anniversary of his first voyage on October 12 1792, when New York’s Columbian Order—also known as the Society of St. Tammany—held an event to commemorate the anniversary of Columbus’s landing. After that, various celebrations around the country started popping up to honor Columbus’s Italian and Catholic heritage. Then, on the 400th anniversary of his landing, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation encouraging people to “cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life.”

The proclamation went on to call Columbus a “pioneer of progress and enlightenment,” and said, “Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.”

[Read more…]

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!

Apache Social Dancer Guy Narocomy (Comanche, Cuddo, Seminole, Chirichan, Lippan Apache) dances at the Apache puberty rites. (Photo by Kerri Cottle)

Apache Social Dancer Guy Narocomy (Comanche, Cuddo, Seminole, Chirichan, Lippan Apache) dances at the Apache puberty rites. (Photo by Kerri Cottle)

Today is a day to celebrate Indigenous People, all over the world, not a day to wallow in memories of genocide and Christendom deciding they had a right to everything. So today, take the time to learn a little about indigenous people, their history, their ideas, their cultures, their arts, the current fights they might be engaged in to protect the earth. If you live near Indigenous people, think about taking time to reach out.

And there’s all day today to write a letter to Columbus.

Photo from ICTMN.

For Indigenous Peoples Day, Write to Columbus.

Tomahawk Greyeyes/YouTube Deezbaa Andrea O’hare reads a letter to Columbus written by Corrina Gould. Tell Columbus how you feel in your own letter.

Tomahawk Greyeyes/YouTube
Deezbaa Andrea O’hare reads a letter to Columbus written by Corrina Gould. Tell Columbus how you feel in your own letter.

Have something you want to tell Christopher Columbus and think there is no way to get it off your chest? Tomahawk Greyeyes, Navajo, has just the thing, an artivist project that calls for letters to Columbus on Indigenous Peoples Day.

The Letters to Columbus will be gathered and some will be shared with the world online and some will be read and performed on YouTube.

Greyeyes calls this a “socially engaged art project about expressing the rage that comes from colonization.” He launched the project on October 12, 2015, gathered letters and took them to read aloud at the Columbus statue that faces the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco.

“You [Columbus] are being charged with genocide, ethnocide, colonization, slavery, rape of people and lands, destruction of the Mother Earth, stealing, maiming, and continued perpetration of lies,” reads Corrina Gould’s (Karkin and Chochoenyo Ohlone) letter to Columbus. “When found guilty your name will be stricken from all histories as a hero.”

Here the full letter, performed by Deezbaa Andrea O’hare, Navajo, below:

One-page letters are due by October 10, and can be submitted to letterstocolumbus@gmail.com.

Via ICTMN.

Color Wars.

ctoy-envmaaaubi-jpg-large

According to the Missoulian, the display came during the school’s homecoming events last week. Polson allowed students to dress up according to themes from Sept. 26 to Sept. 30

The theme “Color Wars” came Friday.

A long-standing name for the event, “Color Wars” involved the PHS Student Board of Governors assigning each grade level a color. Then, the classes compete to see how many people wear the designated hue that day.

This year, seniors wore black, juniors wore white, sophomores donned blue and freshmen sported green.

The class with the most participants wins the contest.

A pair of white high school students in Montana proved racism is alive and well when images circulated of them wearing t-shirts with “White Pride” on them.

In photos posted on Facebook, a male student and a female student – both unidentified juniors at Polson High School – wore white shirts that both read “Trump 2016” and had the white supremacist slogan.

The only difference between the students’ shirts was the male wore a tank top that said “redneck” with a Confederate flag on the front. The female’s t-shirt read “White Power.”

The white pride display made it onto social media, and a number of people weren’t terribly impressed or happy about it.

In response, Polson Superintendent Rex Weltz told the Missoulian the school’s administrators ordered the offending pupils to their office. Once they became aware of the juniors’ clothing, officials told the students to change.

In a statement, Weltz called it an “inexcusable incident involving homecoming activities.” He added the school district “will take appropriate action based on our policies and procedures, which may include discipline for the individual students.”

According to the New York Daily News, the school ultimately gave the students a temporary suspension.

In reaction to the controversy, Montana’s American Civil Liberties Union released a statement.

“While all students have First Amendment rights, schools have the authority and the responsibility to prohibit speech that is harmful to other students,” it read in part. “The Confederate flag and slogan ‘White Power’ are symbols of hate and intolerance. This incident sadly reflects how we are failing our children in teaching them mutual tolerance and respect for those of different backgrounds.”

:Cough: Hey, UND, hear that? I want to add a different view here. What these two students did was not only wrong, it was particularly hateful as Polson High School is on the Flathead Indian Reservation, and is 64% white.

photo by Derek Brouwer. Demonstrators rallied outside the Polson High School homecoming football game and chanted “No more hate!” to protest a racist display at the school the previous day.

photo by Derek Brouwer Demonstrators rallied outside the Polson High School homecoming football game and chanted “No more hate!” to protest a racist display at the school the previous day.

And just to point to the power of white obliviousness once again, a bit from that article:

Caitlin Borgmann, executive director of ACLU Montana, says peaceful demonstrations like the one outside the football game are an important way to push the community to have difficult conversations about race, including the difference between “White Pride” slogans and expressions of solidarity with communities of color. The ACLU issued a statement in response to the images noting that it intends to investigate the incident as well as the school district’s policies and practices for addressing racial discrimination.

The conversations were taking place even before the football game ended. During the demonstration, Monroe compared the Polson activism with the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota that have drawn thousands in recent weeks. Two young girls, both white, looked on through the chain-link fence.

“What’s Standing Rock?” one of them asked.

Yeah. I’m gonna go paint.

Montana High School Students in ‘White Pride’ T-Shirts Shatter Racism Will Die Out Theory.

“Color Wars” day turns controversial at Polson High School.

Racism on the Rez.

Killer Cop Defense: Auditory Exclusion.

Tulsa Police officer Betty Shelby, right, being escorted into court for an early proceeding in her upcoming manslaughter trial in the killing of Terence Crutcher. CREDIT: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File.

Tulsa Police officer Betty Shelby, right, being escorted into court for an early proceeding in her upcoming manslaughter trial in the killing of Terence Crutcher. CREDIT: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File.

The visual evidence of Terence Crutcher’s murder by Officer Betty Shelby was so clear, and so overwhelming, there was no choice when it came to prosecuting her. The sheer obviousness of her guilt has led her lawyers to trying out something new. It’s a twinkie defense, that’s clear, but we should all remember that juries will buy a twinkie defense, especially if they want to, which will most likely happen in this case.

…It will probably be a long time before Shelby sees the inside of a courtroom. But her lawyers are already previewing her case in the media — and Shelby’s attorneys have a strange argument they’ll use in her defense.

Shelby had no idea her backup was right behind her, prepared to subdue Crutcher with a less-lethal taser, the lawyers are saying, because she was temporarily deaf due to the stress of the situation. The law enforcement community calls it “auditory exclusion.”

“She didn’t hear the gunshot, didn’t hear the sirens coming up behind her just prior to the shot,” defense lawyer Scott Wood told the Associated Press last week. Auditory exclusion is “the no. 1 perceptual distortion by people I have represented who have been involved in shootings,” he added.

Wood’s scientific-sounding argument will make Betty Shelby’s ears a strange new battlefield in the struggle to reform American law enforcement. If her lawyers manage to present “auditory exclusion” as hard science, her trial will mark a step toward allowing the use of a cloud of medical-sounding jargon to obscure the implicit racial biases that cops carry to explain a killing that has all the hallmarks of the epidemic of biased policing of black people.

Is “Auditory Exclusion” Science or Subjectivity?

 

Professor Philip Stinson, a former cop and criminal lawyer who now teaches at Bowling Green State University, maintains the most comprehensive database anywhere on police officer prosecutions for killing civilians. Out of 77 officers charged with murder or manslaughter for killing a civilian since the start of 2005, he said, none appears to have argued in court that “auditory exclusion” excused their actions.

“From my standpoint, it’s completely nuts,” Stinson told ThinkProgress. “I don’t see this being admissible at all.”

But researchers diverge on whether people can go temporarily deaf under duress.

Those ThinkProgress reached who study the brain’s physiology said they know of no research supporting it. “Stress does all sorts of things to sensory systems,” wrote Stanford neurologist Dr. Robert Sapolsky, “but the idea of deafening is ludicrous.” Dr. Andrew Steptoe at University College London, who studies “peritraumatic dissociation” during episodes of intense fear or stress, said the idea is plausible “but I know of no solid evidence for this.”

But approached from a psychologist’s perspective, the theory is better grounded. Penn State Behrend associate professor Melanie Hetzel-Riggin said it helps to imagine the difference between hardware and software here.

“On the hardware side, they’re right, there’s probably no physiological problem in that your hearing itself is fine. What’s happening is the info isn’t going anywhere,” she said. “It is possible, although I’m unaware of any research supporting this one way or the other, that during that experience of threat your hearing could be focusing on that and not anything else going on around you.”

[…]

Police training materials are commonly designed to neutralize the panic psychology that Shelby’s lawyers hope will exonerate her. Simulations like the “force option simulator” at San Diego Regional Law Enforcement Training Center are in widespreaduse.

With public pressure for reform mounting over the past couple years, police departments have invited reporters to try their hand at the simulators as part of a PR offensive.

The reporter sessions illustrate how your average geek off the street would struggle with the stresses of the job, to be sure. But the point of the training is to ensure cops are better than us at this stuff. The people whom society entrusts with deadly force and unique authority are supposed to know how to avoid such dangerous responses to something that overloads our brain’s fight-flight instincts. Police academies traditionally give 13 times as much attention to training officers to handle violent situations professionally as to deescalation practices.

“The good thing about police officers and other people who are emergency responders is they have all this training to make it muscle memory, to make it automatic,” said Hetzel-Riggin.

“There are many situations that are going to be perceived as less threatening, because police officers have the training, the practice.”

With all that training, there’s only one thing left – implicit bias. And all too often, when it comes to cops, explicit bias. It’s a problem everyone is tip-toeing around, and it’s the one problem which desperately needs to be addressed. Way more than enough people have been murdered by cops.

Full story is at Think Progress.

Standing Rock (Inyan Woslata).

Standing Rock Joins the World’s Indigenous Fighting for Land and Life.

 

Frank Cooper and Kaya Littleturtle of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina greet Sami representatives from Norway, Inger Biret, Kvernmo Gaup, and Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska on Friday. Desiree Kane.

Frank Cooper and Kaya Littleturtle of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina greet Sami representatives from Norway, Inger Biret, Kvernmo Gaup, and Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska on Friday. Desiree Kane.

From Paris to Standing Rock It’s the Climate Choices Ahead.

 

President Barack Obama congratulates Senior Advisor Brian Deese on the first day of the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change, in the Oval Office, Oct. 5, 2016. Deese worked with Secretary of State John Kerry and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to make the agreement possible. Chief of Staff Denis McDonough watches at left. Pete Souza/White House.

President Barack Obama congratulates Senior Advisor Brian Deese on the first day of the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change, in the Oval Office, Oct. 5, 2016. Deese worked with Secretary of State John Kerry and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to make the agreement possible. Chief of Staff Denis McDonough watches at left. Pete Souza/White House.

Militarization and Mistaken Identity: Police Crack Down on DAPL Protectors.

 

An increasingly militarized police presence is cracking down via video and other technology to identify and arrest water protectors at Dakota Access pipeline construction sites—even when they're not present. Mary Annette Pember.

An increasingly militarized police presence is cracking down via video and other technology to identify and arrest water protectors at Dakota Access pipeline construction sites—even when they’re not present. Mary Annette Pember.

Dalrymple has managed to “borrow” up to 6 million dollars from a state owned bank, to feed police to protect people from the scary Indians and allies.  And Kirchmeier is planning to call on cops in Laramie, Wyoming, to come here and “help”.  I’m furious and disgusted.

Tribal Leaders Speak at DC #NoDAPL Rally.

 

All via ICTMN.

Field Day with My Little Assholes.

img_6241-1-600x600

img_6243-1

A white teacher in Maryland faced backlash after she posted photos of Black children used for humor and called them a degrading name.

In images sent to Atlanta Black Star from an anonymous source, Kelly Forostiak uses her students as props on Instagram. Her page – which is no longer available – showed she is a teacher at Deer Park Elementary in Maryland.

According to the source, Forostiak graduated from Urbana High School in Ijamsville, Maryland in 2010. Below, the teacher jokingly calls her fifth-grade students “little a——- that I somehow still love.”

There’s a whole lot more at the article, including many of the various responses from people. For me, this one summed up best:

teacher-response-anger-1

These comments man…Black adults justifying a white woman calling black children assholes…this is why we can’t win. We won’t even defend our children. I don’t know of any other race of people that would stand for their children being called assholes by their teachers on social media! Tf is wrong with us? “Some of them probably as bad as fuck tho” “some kids are assholes”…OKAY AND I WONDER WHERE THEY GOT IT FROM. Kids don’t pick up bad behavior and attitudes from nowhere. Gtfoh…

I’d be willing to bet there isn’t a parent alive, or any adult who works with children who has not had at least one “little asshole” thought moment, or as Stephen King once said, dark fantasies about crucifying their kids to the walls, but you don’t say that stuff out loud to the children. I will not defend any adult who says such utter isht to children, and apparently, everyone thought the costumes and racist captions weren’t even much worth mentioning.

Regardless of the social media divide, The Baltimore Sun reported Forostiak’s expletive caused her to face disciplinary action. Baltimore County schools spokesperson Mychael Dickerson told the newspaper Forostiak regretted posting the image and making the comments. Dickerson declined to detail exactly what punishment the teacher will face. However, he noted Forostiak is currently employed in the school system and accepts her discipline.

I rather expect that means a slap on the wrist, a la “FFS, don’t be a moron on social media!”

Full story at Atlanta Black Star.