The new right-wing crackpot governor of Virginia campaigned on abolishing the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the state’s public schools, among other ignorant, wrong and/or horrifying conservative “ideas.”
WE ARE NOT AMUSED.
But what happened next is as amusing as it was predictable: [Read more…]
Empress Yakei, Alpha Japanese Macaque
(Macaca fuscata a.k.a. Snow Monkey)
(image: Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden)
(via New York Times email briefing):
Yakei, a female Japanese snow monkey who lives in a nature reserve, violently overthrew a trio of high-ranking males (and her own mother) to move up the ranks and become the first female leader in the reserve’s 70-year history. Yakei’s ascent to alpha status surprised both scientists and reserve workers, who are now closely observing her reign.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, a federal holiday.
As longtime readers may recall, it has long been my tradition to post one of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s lesser-known speeches: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. He spoke these words at Manhattan’s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, a year to the day before he was assassinated at the age of 39. If you are not familiar with it, you can read the speech here, along with some of my thoughts on why it is so important, and still very relevant today.
Go ahead. I’ll wait here…
Oh good! You’re back! (I love you people. ♥)
This year, I thought I’d do something different. I would like to post instead some of the words of Bernice Albertine King.
Bernice A. King, lawyer, minister, CEO of The King Center in Atlanta and daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
She is pictured here reading a quote from her father before remarks by former President Bill Clinton, in Austin, Texas on April 9, 2014.
(Photo: Eric Draper, via LBJ Foundation under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)
Bernice King is the youngest child of the Reverend Doctor and Coretta Scott King. She was 5 years old when her father was killed. Her activism has followed in the footsteps of both of her formidable.
Bernice King is a Christian minister, like her father. Also like her father, she tethers the religious ideas in her speeches to secular ideas of justice, compassion and love. And as I’ve noted before, this practice functions to bolster arguments for the religious-minded, but it neither negates nor replaces secular ones.
Speaking as a die-hard atheist, I believe without a doubt that I have more in common with the values of Beatrice King than I do with many prominent atheists. (If you’re a regular reader on this network, as especially if you’re a longtime fan of PZ’s, you know likely know exactly who I’m talking about. And if you don’t, consider yourself fortunate.) I also believe in the critical importance of boosting Black voices, particularly Black women’s voices.
See if you don’t agree that Bernice King’s voice speaks as powerfully to the Social Justice Warrior in you as it does to me.
I just love how this simple, factual message is stitched onto such bright yellow fabric. It has the feel of a happy face emoji. I’d like to personally volunteer to stitch it onto some governors‘ foreheads. 😃 [Read more…]