I always say I want to take a self defense class and never get around to it. This is chilling. So happy she punched this douchbags face in, and got away. #nottodaymotherfucker … #Repost @run_kiwi_run ・・・ My biggest running nightmare became reality- 4 miles into my long run Sunday afternoon, I stopped to use the restroom and was assaulted by a man hiding in a stall (that is my GPS in red lines). I fought for my life screaming(“Not today, M**F**er!”), clawing his face, punching back, and desperately trying to escape his grip- never giving up. I was able to lock him in the bathroom until police arrived. Thankfully I just took a self-defense class offered at my work and utilized all of it. My face is stitched, my body is bruised, but my spirit is intact. #fightingchanceseattle #runnersafety #marathontraining #womensselfdefense #fightlikeagirl #fightback #dontbeavictim #nottodaymotherfucker #youcantbreakme #instarunners
I personally witnessed this type of racist, retaliatory behavior by the Minneapolis police department back in 2016. Philando Castile had just been murdered live on Facebook. The incident was fearlessly broadcasted by his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds. Remember her? I’ll never forget the voice of her four year old daughter in the background of the video, pleading with her mom to cooperate because she didn’t want the cops to shoot her, too. The very next next day I turned a corner in Minneapolis where I happened to be living for the summer. I came upon an unarmed black man sprawled on his stomach in the middle of a vacant parking lot. His arms were raised to the sky, as high as they could possibly go in that vulnerable position, as three cops stood in a circle surrounding him, each with their gun pointed at his head. I froze. The cops’ eyes darted from me to the compliant man laying face down on the ground to each other as I nervously removed my phone from my pocket. I pointed it directly at the cops, who in turn lowered their weapons, detained the man and put him in the backseat of the squad car. The next day I turned a corner in another part of the city. This time I watched a white security guard slam a black man up against a brick wall. He was trying to wrestle a brown paper bag from the mans hand, accusing him of public intoxication. This time I didn’t freeze. I took out my phone and pointed it at the white guard until the situation de-escalated. When the guard removed the bottle from the bag, it was only orange juice. I realized then that I had surely observed this type of behavior throughout my life, that I was raised with reruns of COPS blaring in the background of my white suburban childhood. I had been conditioned to overlook police aggression towards people of color as somehow normal. I could no longer be passive with my privilege if witnessing and documenting these moments might diffuse a lethal situation. Ever since that weekend I have made it a rule to drop whatever I’m doing, pull out my phone, and point it directly at any cop I happen upon who is merely interacting with a black person. There are no videos of these incidents because in the moment I’m always too shaken to switch my camera setting from photo to video or hit record. It is terrifying for anyone to confront a cop, and it is hard to imagine how scared Philando Castile must have felt in his final moments on earth. I’m still amazed that Diamond had the composure to not only film the murder of her boyfriend, but broadcast it live and narrate it for the whole world to see — directly in the face of Philando’s killers. It is heartbreaking to imagine how frightened that little girl in the backseat must still be to this day, how the sound of sirens will haunt her for the rest of her life. I grieve for Minneapolis, for America, for the family of George Floyd. We must all meet this moment and do whatever we can to dismantle a system of white supremacist violence that harms us all.
His past record of punishing women and families includes voting to:
Repeal the Affordable Care Act
Defund Planned Parenthood
Ban abortion coverage
Now, raise your hand if you already feel victimized by the nomination of Rep. Tom Price for HHS Secretary.
That’s what we thought.
The good news is that you can take action RIGHT NOW by letting your elected officials know where you stand! We need you to tell the Senate to oppose the confirmation of Rep. Tom Price for HHS Secretary: www.bit.ly/RejectPrice. Then, encourage your family and friends to do the same!
Are you with us?
Urgent! There’s still time to tell the Senate to reject Rep. Tom Price!
Rep. Tom Price’s first confirmation hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday, January 18th. We need you to take action now and join the thousands of All* Above All supporters who’ve spoken out against this Trump nominee intent on interfering in our health decisions. Add your name: tell the Senate to reject Rep. Price’s nomination: bit.ly/RejectPrice.
This morning, we headed to Capitol Hill with a BOLD message for the new Congress: We won’t be punished by politicians who want to shame or bully us, deny our coverage, or put women and doctors in jail.
“The U.S. has the resources…to develop treatments which can make AIDS a chronic manageable disease. What’s lacking is the will. President Bush planted a tree for Ryan White. We want leadership and money to fight this war—not symbolism.” – ACT UP ad announcing the Storm the NIH action, Washington Post, May 8, 1990. . Picture: “WE’RE FIRED UP,” ACT UP members during the Storm the NIH action, Bethesda, Maryland, May 21, 1990. Photo by Bob Daugherty. . On May 21, 1990, twenty-seven years ago today, over a thousand members of AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP), representing chapters from across the country, staged a massive protest at the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Citing budget cuts and bureaucratic inefficiencies that clearly could be linked to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans (notably, even today, the NIH describes ACT UP as having been “protesting the ALLEGED slow pace of federal research”), ACT UP members occupied the NIH campus, staged a “die-in,” and plastered buildings with signs and banners. . Organizers provided participants with a list of the group’s fourteen specific demands from the federal government: increased funding in AIDS research; the development of new AIDS treatments; test treatments for all opportunistic infections and cancers; diversify research priorities; begin combination trials; end medical apartheid: open trials to all people infected with HIV; streamline access to pediatric treatments; provide quality clinical care in all studies; conduct research where the need is greatest; announce results as soon as possible; stop secret meetings; restructure task force decision-making; end conflicts of interest; and link funding to performance. . About a hundred demonstrators were arrested, including twenty-one who broke into the offices of Dr. Daniel Hoth, then-director of NIAID’s Division of AIDS, and a frequent target of ACT UP’s attention. . Despite limited media coverage at the time, many consider the action to be among ACT UP’s most successful. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #ACTUP #FightBack #Resist (at Bethesda, Maryland)
For those in the U.S.: Please call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your state’s senators. Demand they save healthcare. And then call again. . As Ian Millhiser said: “Thousands of lives can be saved if every ‘yes’ vote has the worst night of their life tonight.” . Picture: “HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT” – “LIVING WITH HIV,“ ACT UP member, Chicago, Illinois, June 1991. Photo by Genyphyr Novak, c/o Windy City Media. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #Resist #ActUp #FightBack #FightTrump (at Chicago, Illinois)
