Tag Archive for rights

Recommendation: Crip Camp

July 22, 2020 Comments Off on Recommendation: Crip Camp

I don’t often recommend movies or documentaries, but I think this one is worth watching. Full disclosure: I grew up with a disability (post polio), and this documentary is about kids with disabilities.

I identify with some of the kids at the camp (10 years earlier I attended Easter Seal Camp) and at the protests (I participated in anti-Nam protests). But some of what the film presents was new to me — like us “Polios” being considered at the top of the disability ladder and “Cerebral Palsies” being at the bottom.

Whether or not you have a disabled child among your friends or family, this is a worthwhile film to watch. The kids aren’t “brave” or “admirable” or “inspiring” or any of the other terms people use that grate on our nerves. They’re just what we all are — people standing up for their rights.

(Warning: sex, smoking, and pot are involved.)

If you, like me, grew up with a disability, you should watch this, too. And, by the way, fellow “crips,” remember that our group is among the lowest in voter turn-out, and nobody else will push for our rights, so VOTE!

And watch “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution” on NetFlix,

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Guns DO Kill People–in the Wrong Hands

August 5, 2019 Comments Off on Guns DO Kill People–in the Wrong Hands

I’m not advocating taking people’s guns or rights away, but I am advocating for sensible laws and regulations (since it isn’t happening without them) that would prevent the epidemic of gun violence in our country from spreading even more.

We hear only of the larger events, not so much the smaller ones covered only by local media. On Aug. 4, 2019, 216 calendar days have passed. Compare that with these figures for those days so far related to gun violence:

33,044 incidents — 8,735 deaths — 17,344 injuries — 393 children (0-11) injured or killed — 1,798 teens (12-17) injured or killed — 253 mass shootings (yes, more than one a day). More in one half of the country than the other (see map).

If that doesn’t make gun violence an epidemic, nothing does. We MUST stop just talking about it and begin NOW to eradicate it! Other countries have managed it; why not the U.S?

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A Day to Celebrate Being Human

December 10, 2018 Comments Off on A Day to Celebrate Being Human

Seventy years ago today, in 1948, the U.N. adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That’s pretty good–that many countries agreeing on something. With all the burnings and shootings of people in various houses of worship, with all the greed reflected on corporations taking naturally occurring water to bottle or polluting it, all for profit , leaving the local inhabitants to go to war over what’s left, with the inequities in justice systems ensuring that the poor will live in jail and the rich will buy their way out, with human slavery and degradation–what this declaration means should be taken to heart:

  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights empowers us all.
  • Human rights are relevant to all of us, every day.
  • Our shared humanity is rooted in these universal values.
  • Equality, justice and freedom prevent violence and sustain peace.
  • Whenever and wherever humanity’s values are abandoned, we all are at greater risk.
  • We need to stand up for our rights and those of others.

Something worth thinking about today and practicing every day.

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Despite Law, Kids Can Avoid Vaccinations

July 1, 2015 Comments Off on Despite Law, Kids Can Avoid Vaccinations

My state, California, is mandating that all children be vaccinated before they can attend school.  This means that the 80,000+ kids who have claimed personal exemptions no longer can do so.  At first blush, it seems an infringement on rights.  However, most of the families sought exemptions based on a bogus report written by a now-disgraced “scientist,” saying that vaccines cause autism and other maladies (scientifically proven wrong).

It’s been a clash of rights:  for some families it’s freedom of choice vs., for other families, freedom from spreading disease (especially by unvaccinated children).

The 80,000+ still have ways to pursue their beliefs, however.  They can home-school their kids or put them into off-campus independent studies.

I’m afraid there will be an additional avenue for people so inclined.  Children with medical problems that make vaccinating harmful or impossible to them are still exempt.  Therefore, if parents look hard enough, they’ll find an unscrupulous doctor who, for a price, will give his medical opinion that their child should not be vaccinated.

Can’t happen?  How about all those doctors making a healthy living off of issuing medical marijuana cards to anyone who merely claims a debilitating condition?

 

 

 

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I Marched With Martin

January 19, 2015 Comments Off on I Marched With Martin

I marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., almost 50 years ago.  Not literally.  I watched the events unfold on our family’s black and white TV.  They didn’t cover it nearly as much as stations would today, but I saw enough to inspire me, to horrify me, and to make me ashamed that my country didn’t allow all of its citizens to vote.

I watched history being born.  I watched a war for citizens’ rights being waged.  I watched victories and disappointments, physical wounds and healing emotional wounds, and people waking up to the stark realization that a large group of Americans didn’t really believe that “all men are created equal.”

It was an exciting, emotional day.

As the scenes in Selma replay in my mind, I’m thankful for how far we’ve come in these last 50 years…and distressed over how much farther we have to go.

 

 

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The Responsibility for Andy’s Death

October 25, 2013 2 comments

Someone is to blame for the Sheriff’s shooting 13-year-old Andy Lopez, a kid out playing.  Here are the possible guilty parties:

The 24-year veteran sheriff’s deputy who shot the Santa Rosa teen after Andy didn’t heed his commands to put down the gun.

The perpetrators of tragic mass shootings such as Sandy Hook and Columbine, whose actions slither into the minds of law enforcement when faced with guns and kids.

Andy, who waved the gun around playfully and refused the deputy’s repeated orders to put it down.

The friend who let Andy borrow a toy that was so realistic as to put Andy into potential danger.

The father, who told Andy several times to be careful but didn’t take the replica AK 47 away from him before he went out into public.

The manufacturer, who made the orange tip–indicating that this was only a toy–easy to break off rather than an integral part of the toy.

Society in general, which glorifies people using guns to kill in war, hunting, and stand-your-ground, and which encourages everyone to exercise his Constitutional right to carry a gun, have one on the night stand, put one under his store/shop’s counter, and collect weapons such as the AK 47 whose only purpose is to kill large numbers of people (unless you’re a hunter with bad aim and no intention to eat your kill).

Who’s to blame for the death of Andy Lopez?

 

 

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Movie Review: “The Butler”

August 30, 2013 Comments Off on Movie Review: “The Butler”

You MUST see the movie “The Butler.” It’s an historical drama based on the life of Eugene Allen, who spent 34 years as a White House butler for 8 U.S. Presidents.  Forrest Whitaker plays the man who starts his life on a cotton farm and spends much of his adult life watching civil rights history being made and the Vietnam War take its toll on our country.  We see how his wife (Oprah Winfrey) and two sons are affected by his job and historical events as they unfold. It’s also interesting to watch how the various presidents are played by actors like Robin Williams (Eisenhower), John Cusack (Nixon), and James Marsden (Kennedy).

I don’t recommend movies often—I think the last one was “Lincoln”—but this one really affected me.  Maybe because it basically covers my lifetime and reflects my prejudices (I worked for civil rights and protested the Vietnam War).  But it’s more than that.  The emphasis isn’t so much on the history as it is on how people are touched by it.  That appeals to me.  And makes for an engaging story.

As I said, you MUST see this movie.

 

 

 

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Thoughtful Thursday: Words Our Country Must Remember

July 4, 2013 Comments Off on Thoughtful Thursday: Words Our Country Must Remember

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

[The writers of our Declaration of Independence were straightforward and clear: talking about all people, throughout the world, despite circumstances of birth or socioeconomic standing.]

Happy Independence Day!

Flag Wave

 

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Trees & “5 Broken Cameras”

February 22, 2013 Comments Off on Trees & “5 Broken Cameras”

The film 5 Broken Cameras woke me up.  I’ve had trouble understanding what’s going on in the Left Bank/Gaza region…until seeing this film.  Now I have other questions, mainly how Americans can pick and choose whose human rights violations we’re appalled at and whose we support.

I also learned to research before I buy.  Recently, when a devout Jewish friend passed away, another member of our little group of friends suggested we honor her memory in a traditional way, by planting a tree in Israel. That seemed appropriate, so I chipped in.  Now, however, I understand that our tree will likely be planted on a Palestinian village’s land in preparation for future takeover and building for Israeli settlers. Had I understood the situation, I would have found another way to express my love for my deceased friend.

See the film.

 

 

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