Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sex Ed Bill Died In Senate Committee on 3/3/09
But getting the Bill through the house at all is a great step forward for sex ed in Mississippi.
Friday, March 6, 2009
MIssissippi Project 2009 Report-Back
Come find out about what we all did during winter break, the state of human rights and civil liberties in the Delta, and how you can be a Mississippi Project rock star in January 2010.
Thursday, March 26, 12:15pm - 1:45pm (SIT time)
Room 250 (***NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE***)
Thursday, March 26, 12:15pm - 1:45pm (SIT time)
Room 250 (***NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE***)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Mississippi House passes comprehensive sex ed bill!
The bill text, as passed the house is here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2009/html/HB/0200-0299/HB0234PS.htm . Note that it requires boys & girls to be taught about sexuality seperately.
I wonder what the Senate will say...
http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11535
I wonder what the Senate will say...
http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11535
Mississippi State House Passes Comprehensive Sex Education Legislation
Legislation passed late last week in the Mississippi state House that would allow the state's Departments of Education and Health to test a comprehensive sexual education pilot program in two school districts. The bill is, in part, a reaction to a recently released Center for Disease Control report that shows that Mississippi has one of the sharpest increases in teen pregnancy rates in the nation, a higher teen birth rate, and rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
The proposed program would require parental consent for students to participate. According to KSLA, the program would require that female and male students be separated to discuss certain topics, including sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Abortion would not be addressed under the program outlined in the bill.
Sex education of any kind is not currently required in Mississippi schools, but there is a focus on abstinence-only programs. Democratic state Representative John Hines told the Clarion Ledger that the state's focus on abstinence is not working because "babies are having babies and they can't take care of them."
Media Resources: The Commercial Dispatch, 02/13/09; The Clarion Ledger, 02/13/09, 02/12/09; KSLA 12, 02/12/09; Feminist Daily Newswire 1/26/09
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Back in NYC, Remembering NOLA
Ebette, AJ & I were living in the upper 9th Ward and as such, were immersed in the absolute gentrification of that area. As we walked through our neighborhood, we saw endless homes with the infamous spray-painted X, detailing the date the home was checked, and the number of dead people found inside after Katrina. There were a lot of zeros, thankfully. But at the same time, there were so many small cafes and bars and restaurants popping up. It was such a rich neighborhood, but it had a sense of Williamsburg to it. It was becoming overrun with young, white hipsters. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to talk to several long-time residents of NOLA, who all said the same thing: as rich and diverse as the city is, it lost half its population after Katrina. The people returning are not the original residents.
I was conflicted because I fell in love in NOLA. I fell in love with the people, the city, its rich history and culture, as well as with the Innocence Project. The city is dripping with culture and full of people who want to share their stories and have a slow morning conversation with you as you try to break the habit of rushing to work. I could see myself living there, demanding justice. Yet I don't want to add to the gentrification and social injustice. I don't want to start building my life where someone else was forced to abandon theirs.
The most memorable moment of my time in NOLA was during our second weekend. I had wanted to bike down to the lower 9th Ward for a long time, but found myself hesitating. I had reservations about going b/c I didn't want to be a disaster tourist, and because I was scared of what I knew I was going to see. I did not know how to prepare for it and I did not know if I would be able to deal with it. All I knew is that I wanted and needed to see what the neighborhood was really like today, over 3 years post-Katrina.
Ebette, AJ & I biked down to the lower 9th together. It was empty. It was silent. It was so silent. It felt like another country. On the Industrial Canal side, where the levee broke, there were very few homes. Maybe 4 or 5 homes left standing -- barely standing -- over a span of several blocks. It went on like this for as far as I could see. These X's did not have zeros. They had numbers. The first number I saw was 8. Eight people had been left to die. It was a small two-family home. It looked like the family downstairs had sought refuge with the family upstairs. But nobody came for them.
The homes that were there were no longer homes, either. They were just empty structures, destroyed shells of what used to be people's homes. Mostly windowless, some with broken windows. Remnants of what used to be somebody's living room furniture, piled up as garbage, awaiting a pick up that has yet to happen -- over 3 years later.
In that pile of "debris," I saw a small piece of brick. I picked it up, held it, and imagined that it must have been a piece of somebody's home. A solid structure once, containing warmth, love, fights, laughter, tears, family dinners, a place for people to feel safe. A home. I held a chunk of what was left of this home in my hand. It got very hard to breathe. That piece of somebody's life that had been swept up into a pile of "garbage," I took with me. I will never forget.
It was utter destruction. I had a really hard time being there, seeing it all, yet I didn't want to leave. I felt like I shouldn't leave, like there was so much that needed to be done, and since no one was doing anything (with the exception of Brad Pitt's Make it Right New Orleans foundation -- I'm disgusted that our government has abandoned this neighborhood -- these people -- and it takes an actor's money to help them), that I should stay and do it.
I wondered how the government would have responded to the same situation had it happened on the Upper West Side. I know it wouldn't have abandoned those people.
A few days later, back at the Innocence Project office, I heard breaking news about the airliner landing in the Hudson River. Maybe I should have been full of joy that all of those folks had been promptly rescued. But through my relief, my mind kept returning to the same thought: this is what emergency response should be for everyone.
They were rescued within moments. Residents of the lower 9th Ward are still waiting.
I was conflicted because I fell in love in NOLA. I fell in love with the people, the city, its rich history and culture, as well as with the Innocence Project. The city is dripping with culture and full of people who want to share their stories and have a slow morning conversation with you as you try to break the habit of rushing to work. I could see myself living there, demanding justice. Yet I don't want to add to the gentrification and social injustice. I don't want to start building my life where someone else was forced to abandon theirs.
The most memorable moment of my time in NOLA was during our second weekend. I had wanted to bike down to the lower 9th Ward for a long time, but found myself hesitating. I had reservations about going b/c I didn't want to be a disaster tourist, and because I was scared of what I knew I was going to see. I did not know how to prepare for it and I did not know if I would be able to deal with it. All I knew is that I wanted and needed to see what the neighborhood was really like today, over 3 years post-Katrina.
Ebette, AJ & I biked down to the lower 9th together. It was empty. It was silent. It was so silent. It felt like another country. On the Industrial Canal side, where the levee broke, there were very few homes. Maybe 4 or 5 homes left standing -- barely standing -- over a span of several blocks. It went on like this for as far as I could see. These X's did not have zeros. They had numbers. The first number I saw was 8. Eight people had been left to die. It was a small two-family home. It looked like the family downstairs had sought refuge with the family upstairs. But nobody came for them.
The homes that were there were no longer homes, either. They were just empty structures, destroyed shells of what used to be people's homes. Mostly windowless, some with broken windows. Remnants of what used to be somebody's living room furniture, piled up as garbage, awaiting a pick up that has yet to happen -- over 3 years later.
In that pile of "debris," I saw a small piece of brick. I picked it up, held it, and imagined that it must have been a piece of somebody's home. A solid structure once, containing warmth, love, fights, laughter, tears, family dinners, a place for people to feel safe. A home. I held a chunk of what was left of this home in my hand. It got very hard to breathe. That piece of somebody's life that had been swept up into a pile of "garbage," I took with me. I will never forget.
It was utter destruction. I had a really hard time being there, seeing it all, yet I didn't want to leave. I felt like I shouldn't leave, like there was so much that needed to be done, and since no one was doing anything (with the exception of Brad Pitt's Make it Right New Orleans foundation -- I'm disgusted that our government has abandoned this neighborhood -- these people -- and it takes an actor's money to help them), that I should stay and do it.
I wondered how the government would have responded to the same situation had it happened on the Upper West Side. I know it wouldn't have abandoned those people.
A few days later, back at the Innocence Project office, I heard breaking news about the airliner landing in the Hudson River. Maybe I should have been full of joy that all of those folks had been promptly rescued. But through my relief, my mind kept returning to the same thought: this is what emergency response should be for everyone.
They were rescued within moments. Residents of the lower 9th Ward are still waiting.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
My favorite Miss. Bill Introduced Today
There is a bill before the House protecting,
"(ii) The right of the teacher to reasonably defend
himself or herself in the classroom if a student strikes or uses other physical force, or attempts to strike or use other physical force, against the teacher. In defending himself or herself, a teacher may use only so much force for a period of time as may be reasonably required to protect the teacher from apparently impending bodily harm or further bodily harm. Under no circumstances may a teacher use an amount of force that disproportionately exceeds the force threatened or actually used by the student against the teacher, and under no circumstances may
a teacher use any force against a student for a period of time longer than reasonably required to remove the threat of bodily harm caused by the student."
For Goetz fans, note that this is all based on the teacher's understanding that there is "impending bodliy harm."
"(ii) The right of the teacher to reasonably defend
himself or herself in the classroom if a student strikes or uses other physical force, or attempts to strike or use other physical force, against the teacher. In defending himself or herself, a teacher may use only so much force for a period of time as may be reasonably required to protect the teacher from apparently impending bodily harm or further bodily harm. Under no circumstances may a teacher use an amount of force that disproportionately exceeds the force threatened or actually used by the student against the teacher, and under no circumstances may
a teacher use any force against a student for a period of time longer than reasonably required to remove the threat of bodily harm caused by the student."
For Goetz fans, note that this is all based on the teacher's understanding that there is "impending bodliy harm."
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Resurrection After Exoneration
The Innocence Project is housed in a beautiful old building in the upper 9th ward here in New Orleans. Downstairs, Resurrection After Exoneration (RAE) is run by John Thompson, a death row exoneree who has begun to share his incredible story with us. RAE is a nonprofit that helps exonerees from Louisiana and Mississippi readjust to normal society after incarceration. John keeps getting phone calls and has been running off and now we understand why. His story is all over the news as the New Orleans DA is threatening to file for bankruptcy instead of paying John the compensation he was awarded in civil court - $15 million.
John spent 18 years in prison, 14 on death row, and evidence proving wrongful conviction of an armed robbery, which lead to his murder conviction, was uncovered only weeks before he was to be executed. This got him a new trial for the murder and he was found not-guilty. I'm unsure if there can ever be just compensation for 18 years of a person's life spent imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit - but I'm absolutely sure that the DA's office that blatently heaped false charges on John in order to get a murder conviction should not be able to worm out of paying up.
Read the AP story that has been picked up all over the country here.
And click here to see John on the news last night.
John spent 18 years in prison, 14 on death row, and evidence proving wrongful conviction of an armed robbery, which lead to his murder conviction, was uncovered only weeks before he was to be executed. This got him a new trial for the murder and he was found not-guilty. I'm unsure if there can ever be just compensation for 18 years of a person's life spent imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit - but I'm absolutely sure that the DA's office that blatently heaped false charges on John in order to get a murder conviction should not be able to worm out of paying up.
Read the AP story that has been picked up all over the country here.
And click here to see John on the news last night.
Legislative Session Notes
This has been an eye-opening experience of America for me so far. The legislative session opened yesterday for Mississippi. This means that Senators and Representatives are presenting bills. They have until Monday, January 19 to present all bills and constitutional amendments for consideration. Some of the bills are the kind of thing I didn't realize was still open for discussion in this country. Apparently, everything is up for grabs.
What makes this more surreal is that as the bills are presented, they silently appear on the Mississippi legislature website. I have been checking compulsively. To get a flavor of what politicians in Mississippi have on their minds, you can join me here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/ . Follow the link for Bill Status for the by House or Senate Committees.
Here is the text of my favorite bill of the day - it's short enough to include the whole thing here:
House Bill 25:
The State Board of Education shall require every textbook that includes the teaching of evolution in its contents to include the following language on the inside front cover of the textbook:
"The word 'theory' has many meanings, including: systematically organized knowledge; abstract reasoning; a speculative idea or plan; or a systematic statement of principles. Scientific theories are based on both observations of the natural world and assumptions about the natural world. They are always subject to change in view of new and confirmed observations.
This textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some scientists present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things. No one was present when life first appeared on earth. Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered a theory.
Evolution refers to the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produced living things. There are many topics with unanswered questions about the origin of life which are not mentioned in your textbook, including: the sudden appearance of the major groups of animals in the fossil record (known as the Cambrian Explosion); the lack of new major groups of other living things appearing in the fossil record; the lack of transitional forms of major groups of plants and animals in the fossil record; and the complete and complex set of instructions for building a living body possessed by all living things. Study hard and keep an open mind."
To see how this bill is doing later in the session, click here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2009/pdf/history/HB/HB0025.xml
What makes this more surreal is that as the bills are presented, they silently appear on the Mississippi legislature website. I have been checking compulsively. To get a flavor of what politicians in Mississippi have on their minds, you can join me here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/ . Follow the link for Bill Status for the by House or Senate Committees.
Here is the text of my favorite bill of the day - it's short enough to include the whole thing here:
House Bill 25:
The State Board of Education shall require every textbook that includes the teaching of evolution in its contents to include the following language on the inside front cover of the textbook:
"The word 'theory' has many meanings, including: systematically organized knowledge; abstract reasoning; a speculative idea or plan; or a systematic statement of principles. Scientific theories are based on both observations of the natural world and assumptions about the natural world. They are always subject to change in view of new and confirmed observations.
This textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some scientists present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things. No one was present when life first appeared on earth. Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered a theory.
Evolution refers to the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produced living things. There are many topics with unanswered questions about the origin of life which are not mentioned in your textbook, including: the sudden appearance of the major groups of animals in the fossil record (known as the Cambrian Explosion); the lack of new major groups of other living things appearing in the fossil record; the lack of transitional forms of major groups of plants and animals in the fossil record; and the complete and complex set of instructions for building a living body possessed by all living things. Study hard and keep an open mind."
To see how this bill is doing later in the session, click here: http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2009/pdf/history/HB/HB0025.xml
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