Tag Archives: feminism

August 20, 2012 · 10:53 pm

IT MUST NOT BE RAPE IF A WOMAN GETS PREGNANT,By Louise Annarino,August 20,2012

It Must Not Be Rape If A Woman Gets Pregnant,By Louise Annarino,August 2o,2012

As I write this I am listening to Tchaikowsky’s Sleeping Beauty Suite via Spotify, thanks to a helpful young nephew who downloaded it to my computer.Little girls love the story of Sleeping Beauty. Even those of us who are feminists to the core dream the most beautiful dream of all, finding our prince.  A few of us are lucky enough to have found him. Then there is rape, the stuff of nightmares.

Students moved into residence halls at The Ohio State University this week-end. Some of them will be raped; 1out of 4 is a commonly cited statistic. Another is that 90% knew their rapist; and yet another that 60% of male college students “indicated some likelihood of raping or using force in certain circumstances”(see more at http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/sexualassault/college_campuses_and_rape.htm).

As a 19 year old student and Resident Advisor or RA at OSU I spent many nights in the University Hospital emergency room comforting such young women; and, sometimes comforting those who were hemorrhaging from a back-alley abortion. Abortions were then illegal. Sleeping Beauties, these young women, who sought to make a dream come true, woke up in a nightmare. Every 21 hours a woman is raped on a college campus.

It is not only college women, those uppity females who believe they are as smart and as competent as men, and able to compete with them who face sexual assault. Rape crosses all economic and sexual barriers. In a department of Justice Study 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men experienced rape or attempted rape. Yet, a 1992 report from the National Victim Center ( see more at http://www.911rape.org/facts-quotes/statistics )called rape the most underreported violent crime in America; with one in six victims reporting the rape. The 2000 FBI Uniform Crime Report states that a rape occurs in the United States once every 5 minutes.

The young are more likely to be sexually assaulted than adults. In the 1992 study the National Victim Center reported the following breakdown by age of victims:

29.3% were less than 11 years old
32.3% were between 11 and 17
22.2% were between 18 and 24
7.1% were between 25 and 29
6.1% were older than 29
3.0% age was not available

Getting lost in statistics? Each one is a human being just like you,your wife,daughter, mother,sister,niece. Rapists live among us as family, friends, neighbors. Rape is a violent crime not because of the nature of penetration, the level of force used, nor the behavior of a woman prior to the rape. It is because sex is used as a weapon to injure,maim,even kill a woman; body, heart and soul. Rape is meant to denigrate and defile a woman. To show her how worthless she really is. It is not a sexual act but a violent act using sex as the weapon.

While working on a graduate level project at a maximum security men’s prison in Ohio I discovered that most rapes are planned; inmates often described to me how they selected their victims. The reason most women report knowing their rapist is because he sets up potential victims by making innocent and deceptively friendly contact with her hours,days,weeks in advance; often, by simply asking for the time or directions and making conversation. Those women who respond favorably and kindly are selected. Those who ignore or showed distaste for the man’s advances are bypassed as likely to be a “problem”. I was told (women in the helping professions) teachers,nurses and social workers are particularly sought out. Since then, I am most unfriendly to any man I do not know and give a glaring look if asked for directions etc. Not very ladylike; I have no illusions about, nor dreams of being a princess.

I understood rape,finally, despite the hours I had spent with women who had experienced it, when I was nearly gang-raped while walking across the OSU campus in daylight, walking with two female roommates. I had taken several self-defense courses and like many women mistakenly believed I could take-down or escape a rapist, never imagining the possibility of pair or gang-rapes. 85% of rape survivors report they tried unsuccessfully to reason with the man who raped her. 55% of campus gang-rapes are committed by fraternities,40% by sports teams,and 5% by others.(http://www.oneinfourusa.org/statistics.php) In my case it was the intervention by the OSU football squad which saved me. GO BUCKS!

Which brings me to the Teapublican fraternity of men in the House and Senate who show their disdain for women by submitting bills to control them, deprive them of needed health care, and pay them less than men doing the same job. Recently, Representatives Todd Akin (R-MO) and Paul Ryan (R-WI) co-sponsored H.R. 3“No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which initially included language which changed the definition of rape to forcible rape. Later,public pressure forced the bill’s supporters to remove that unacceptable and narrow definition. Perhaps Mr. Akin meant to say forcible instead of legitimate while defending his extreme anti-choice view because he believes some rapes are legitimate, and/or not all rapes are forcible. Either way the idea of rape held by Mr. Akin, Mr. Ryan and other Teapublicans is misguided. They discuss rape as if it were a sexual act, as if some sex is legitimate and some not; as if some sex is forced and some not. Rape does not illustrate a woman’s willingness or unwillingness to exert her sexuality. It can never be legitimate. It is inherently a use of force meant to denigrate and harm a woman. Rape is a weapon against women.It is a criminal act; and they don’t get it.

His very words over during a recent interview illustrate the Teapublican Akin’s failure to understand the problems women face: “First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Why is he talking with doctors about rape? Why is he not talking with criminal experts? Why is he talking about pregnancy resulting from rape? Why is he not talking about the injuries sustained by women resulting from rape? Why? Because he is not interested in rape. He dos not respect a woman’s right to be free of criminal attack when sex is the weapon.He is interested in stopping ALL abortions, even those resulting from rape. Abortion is his raison d’etre. SInce a woman who gets pregnant could not have been raped, there is no need to add an exemption for rape victims in legislation denying funding for abortion. This was no slip of the tongue;this is Teapublican policy espoused by candidates running on the Republican Party tickets across the country.

How would Akin and Ryan decide which rapes are legitimate or forcible, and which are not? If Akin’s scientific analysis is correct, any rape resulting in pregnancy would NOT be a legitimate rape since a legitimate rape “would shut that whole thing down”. If “that whole thing” did not shut down, then the rape must not be legitimate rape. The woman should not be protected nor her abortion/health care needs funded.

I resent having my female reproductive health system described as “that whole thing”. Akin and Ryan talk about God and religion so much one would expect a little more sanctity and appreciation for God’s design of women’s bodies. One would expect them to respectfully learn the truth about sexuality and reproduction. One would expect them to respect women and protect them from criminal violence;not parse such violence against women for political gain.

The Akin-Ryan denigration of women from the floor of congress and their campaign trails is painful and frightening to all women, but especially to those of us who have had to learn to overcome the hatred and disdain of the men who attacked us. Now,  presidential candidate Romney selects Rep. Paul Ryan to run as Vice-President. Mr. Akin, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney wound us anew. Of course they frighten us. They are the stuff of nightmares which have never gone away.

 

 

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August 19, 2012 · 6:32 pm

TEAPUBLICANS:UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED,By Louise Annarino,August 19,2012

TEAPUBLICANS: UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED,By Louise Annarino,August 19,2012

It is not easy for me to type the word Republican in the same sentence with words like “racism” http://open.salon.com/blog/chauncey_devega/2012/08/17/niggerization_toure_was_right_about_romneys_race_baiting: Obama (notice a title is never used) is an angry black man determined to destroy Christian America from within with his Muslim socialism,“war on the poor”: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/08/the-gops-war-on-the-poor/260983/ Obama gives out checks to black people who want free stuff but don’t want to work, “war on women” http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/gop-women-problem-2012-4/index1.html America needs to turn back the Obama clock to days when women acted as women are supposed to act and let men take care of business,“attack on immigrants” http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/06/15/500607/mitt-romney-immigration-primary/ Mitt Romney would make life so miserable for immigrants they would “self deport” and Obama coddles them. “attack on education” http://www.alligator.org/opinion/columns/article_137d789e-8383-11e1-983d-0019bb2963f4.html Obama is uppity and overeducated.Not everyone needs an education, nor deserves one. Education should be privatized; ask your parents for a loan if you need financial help to pay for school.

I would like to believe this is not the position of the Grand Old Party- GOP. But, it has been for some time. I believe there are many republicans who are embarrassed by the current Republican platform, policies and candidates; who are ashamed of belonging to  party whose main goal is to make the black man a one-term president even when he adopts the very legislative approach sought by their once-heroes. Who no longer recognize the attacks being made, the lies being told, and the fostering of hate as defensible tactics. A political strategy based on racist ideology has been fully embraced by party leaders, who act as if they have little choice if the party itself is to survive. They seem almost eager to join the racists within their ranks. They seem to be in denial as they attack a black man defending himself against their racism as a racist himself. That is an old sorry tale. As Dan Rather would say “that dog won’t hunt.”

I believe in the power of words. It is time to embrace new terminology. From now on I will refer to the politicians who have embraced and use racism to “get out the republican base” as TEAPUBLICANS. I hope those republicans of good will, who are willing to join with democrats and independents to find solutions to serve the common good, who are willing to share in both sacrifice and success to lead America forward, and who refuse to wage war on fellow Americans to maintain unfair advantage-power-wealth will find a way to save the GOP. It is unsafe for the Republican Party to embrace the Teapublican Party in any way, at any level, at any speed. The Teapublican Party is headed for a crash. Republicans need to get out of the car and stand on their own. That is the only way the Republican Party will survive the years ahead.

Why do I care? Because I believe in a strong two-party system. Politics is a peaceful way to wage war and settle differences with one another. Politics no longer works when the parties no longer respect one another enough to fight the racist, sexist, ethnocentric, nationalistic, homophobic dark side of themselves. Teapublicans embrace false fear and false hate as tools. They walk on the dark side of life. If their fears were real and their hate justified, it would be a totally different story. But Teaparty hate is NOT based on reality: African-Americans are not scary, strong women are no threat, gay spouses won’t ruin heterosexuals marriages, immigrants don’t want your job. It is perhaps too late for republicans to “throw the bums out’ of the GOP;after all, their candidate for president and vice-president have stretched into ridiculous poses to adopt Teapublican positions and policies. But, it is not too late to get out of the car.

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August 18, 2012 · 7:07 pm

SYNERGY OR SERENDIPITY? RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL IN OFFICES OF SECRETARIES OF STATE,BY Louise Annarino,August 18, 2012

SYNERGY OR SERENDIPITY? RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL IN OFFICES OF SECRETARIES OF STATE,BY Louise Annarino,August 18, 2012

Synergy is two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable.

The Suppression of the African-American vote deserves a blog entry all its own. I recently wrote about the general suppression of early voters in Ohio. Such behavior is disgraceful. But, suppression of the African-American vote is truly beyond the pale of thinking Americans.Perhaps no one is thinking. Perhaps the intent is not so deliberately racist as it appears. However, I find it difficult to believe what is happening in Ohio and simultaneously in so many states had not been planned.

General systems theory would remind me of serendipity; perhaps it is simply a “surprising happenstance” that the votes of those groups who so strongly supported Barack Obama in 2008 are being systemically suppressed throughout the country during the 2012 election. 95% of African Americans in the U.S., 97% in Ohio, voted for Barack Obama in 2008. “With population growth and increased voter participation among blacks, Latinos and Asians, members of all three groups cast more votes in 2008 than in 2004. Two million more blacks and 2 million more Latinos reported voting in 2008 than said the same in 2004. Among Asians, 338,000 more votes were reported cast in 2008 than in 2004.” http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1209/racial-ethnic-voters-presidential-election  An even higher turn-out among these groups is expected for the 2012 election.

It is estimated no fewer than 93,000 persons voted on the week-end before the November 2008 election. Since not all county election boards keep a daily tally of voters this number may be far lower than actual votes cast. There is no way to prove the race of voters on that or any other week-end. However, we do know that African-American churches “Souls to the Polls” projects bus hundreds of thousands of African-Americans to early voting after church services on Sundays, including the final Sunday before election day. We do know that getting to the polls, early or on election day is a struggle for single mothers, students, older persons, those relying on public transportation, and those working longer hours for less pay. We have a collective a memory of who was left standing in long lines, who had to leave the lines without voting in 2004; and who formed long lines throughout the interior hallways, and out the door to wrap themselves in a line extending around Veteran’s Memorial and into the parking lot on week-ends in 2008. African-Americans stood witness as far larger percentage of voters in-line than the percentage of African-Americans living in Ohio. For African-Americans, wek-end voting is a necessity, not a convenience.

The recent efforts in Ohio,Pennsylvania and other states to make it more difficult to vote are being justified using the same arguments which were used to deny African-Americans and women the right to vote; which later were used to impose a poll tax or literacy test to deny African-Americans their place at the polls. Now, we face a bigger hurdle. The systemic institutionalization of voting rules meant to turn voting rights into mere privileges as a means of controlling whose vote will get cast,and counted.

We elected an African-American president, while white men thought they could still hold onto power. Putting a woman, Sarah Palin,on the Republican ticket was not enough to overcome the changing demographic. What’s next, a woman president? An African-American woman president? A Latino, Latina or Asian president?

I believe what we are seeing is synergy, not serendipity. Racism coupled with the power held by state Republicans to regulate voting is threatening our elections. On NPR this morning a man was questioned about his opposition to congressional candidate Christie Vilsack. His reason for opposing her, “No way. It’s a man world”. It really isn’t; not any longer. The only way to keep the U.S. “a man’s world” is to suppress the vote of those who would easily and happily live in a multicultural America.

On August 6, 2012 The Honorable John Lewis (D-GA) stated on his facebook page: “47 years ago today, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. It is a shame and a disgrace that today we bear witness to a deliberate and systematic attempt to make it impossible for some among us to vote. It is an affront to those that suffered and struggled, and especially to those who gave their lives so that others would be free to choose their own elected leaders. We must resist every effort to make it harder and more difficult for people to register and vote.” Yesterday, I listened to an interview of Congressman Lewis on CNN where he was asked whether the racist environment during his civil rights days marching with Dr. King for the Civil Rights,where he was set-upon by dogs,hosed,beaten and jailed was worse than what we see and hear today. Congressman Lewis said  (I paraphrase) “It is the same. But then, it was only in the South. Today it is everywhere in the country.”

The struggle for the right of African-Americans to vote continues as we demand the restoration of week-end voting in Ohio, the removal of unobtainable documentation requirements for and end to voter ID in Pennsylvania, and a slew of other burdens and obstacles to voting across the country. If the vote of one person can be denied, the vote of every person can be denied. While it is clear what is being denied to African-American voters we must recognize it could also be denied to every voter, even to those like SoS Husted. He and his party may not always hold power. They should not forget they are simply one of us, as we are all part of the whole. The precedent he is setting treats the right to vote as a privilege to be controlled and doled out according to the whims of those in power. This is dangerous to all Americans.

Once again, African-Americans are on the front-lines defending the constitution we all love, witnesses to the need of those in power to oppress even it means their own self-destruction. We must stand together or we will fall together. As Sen.Robert Kennedy once said,  “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” African-American,white,Latino,Asian,men,women we must stand together against the folly we are witnessing.

 

 

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August 9, 2012 · 2:43 pm

The Pro-Choice Ethic of a Faithful Roman Catholic: A Reflection by Kate Mroz

The Pro-Choice Ethic of a Faithful Roman Catholic: A Reflection by Kate Mroz.

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June 1, 2012 · 2:19 pm

PIRATES AT THE HELM?

PIRATES AT THE HELM ?

Louise Annarino

June 1, 2012

 

As Fathers’ Day nears I have been thinking about the fathers of America and what they are thinking about our presidential candidates. Polls show that the largest group of Democratic candidate President Barack Obama’s supporters are women; the largest group of Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s, white men. Clearly, the patriarchal position of Republican policies and legislative agenda does not sit well with most women. Also, President Obama’s record abounds with efforts to empower and protect women and their children. Men who think they can offer platitudes to women are sadly mistaken, and will not gain women’s support by returning them to second-class citizenship.

 

But, it is the men who cause me to ponder. One would expect strong support for a president who is hands-on seeking out and destroying the enemies who attacked us on 9/11, who works hard to assure our military and veteran’s have our full support and gratitude; who repeatedly asks congress for approval and support to rebuild our bridges,  ports, roads, airports and infrastructure; and who seeks legislative reform to  bring home companies which have moved off-shore, rebuild our manufacturing platform, gives tax breaks to small business etc. to encourage economic growth. Since President Obama took office we have only moved forward with an on-going increase in productivity, job retention and creation, GNP, and a reduction in unemployment. They must understand that slow and steady growth which is sustainable over the long term is best for our economic stability as the world’s economic powerhouse. While currency values fall worldwide, the U.S. dollar remains strong.

 

And, it is the men who cause me to ponder when they seem unwilling to consider how President Obama explores changes which will transform how we educate their children. I realize rich men need not be concerned; they simply send their children to the best schools money can buy: low class size, highly paid and trained staff, broad extracurricular opportunities, readily available tutoring and support services. But even working men, whose children attend public schools in overcrowded classrooms, with poorly paid staff who must use their own money to enrich classroom activities, who must deal with those unruly and emotionally stressed children of poverty without anyone’s support; men who must pay for their children to play sports and engage in other extracurricular opportunities out of their unemployment checks who oppose this president. Why do such men, such fathers, oppose what is in their own best interest, and the interests of their wives and children?

 

Do they believe Mitt Romney, who as Governor of Massachusetts plunged that state to 47th. in the nation in jobs creation will do better as president? Do they really believe that a man who made his living by destroying the livings of men like them will protect them and their families? I am sure his equity firm made companies more profitable. He did so by eliminating union and non-union workers, reducing wages of workers who remained, stopping workers’ health care coverage. Once the company was profitable, however, his company withdrew those profits to repay the bank loans he had used to buy the company in the first place. Then, he used what profit remained to repay his investors and pay himself the fees to which he was entitled. Often, he had to sell off the equipment needed to continue production.

Finally, the company he tells you his equity firm made more profitable had to file bankruptcy. Since there were no longer assets, nor sufficient equipment to continue to create worth there was no means to pay retirement benefits to the workers who lost their jobs. The companies eventually closed. The bankruptcy court approved termination of retirement benefits for people who had worked their whole lives for the company.

 

This is how Mitt Romney became a self-described successful businessman and multi-millionaire. I don’t call that success; I call that legal piracy.  Like a pirate his money rests in off shore accounts one would need a map to discover. He’s not telling; not even disclosing his prior tax returns. Is this what makes him appealing to men? Do they all want to play pirate? Do they all think if they follow Romney they will become wealthy, too. Do they want a pirate at the helm of our Ship of State? At what cost to their women and children? At what cost to their country, and mine?

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May 5, 2012 · 3:56 am

WALK THE LINE

WALK THE LINE

Louise Annarino

May 4, 1970

 

Walking the line is not the same as toeing the line, nor following the party line. Walking the line is a solitary function, calling for balance, effective pacing, trusting self, and imagining success. President Obama, as every political leader before him has had to  walk the line every day: balancing the diverse interests of Americans to maintain unity of purpose to move the country forward, making friends abroad while protecting our civilians at home and our military abroad, promoting civil rights while keeping the peace in our communities. I think about what it means to walk the line today, as I recall the civil discord on college campuses during the Spring of 1970;when lines were crossed and lives were lost.

 

On May 4, 1970, I was sitting on the Oval at Ohio State University (OSU) with a few thousand protesters.We had to sit in groups of 4 to avoid arrest (an order under martial law that only groups fewer than 5 could gather anywhere on campus)when a young man began running from group to group. He started at the library end of the campus Oval. As he ran we could see people collapsing, pulling their hair, clinging to one another; but, we were still too far away to hear anything. We had to sit and wait. When finally we heard his message we understood. A group scream was emerging in bits and pieces from every soul on that Oval. I am still screaming for those killed at Kent State University (KSU)(for full account see http://www.kentstate1970.org/ )on May 4; and, for those killed on May 15 at Jackson State University. (for full account see

http://www.may41970.com/Jackson%20State/jackson_state_may_1970.htm ).

 

The events of Spring 1970 started years earlier. Students who had been protesting a variety of interests suddenly recognized their interconnected, common interests and a common enemy, when The United States escalated the Viet-Nam War and invaded Cambodia. Fore several years students had been engaging in protests, sit-down and  hunger strikes,and marches to draw attention to racism, sexism, repression, student rights,campus safety, ecology concerns,and The War. It is hard to imagine any institution of higher education left untouched by the voices of dissenters seeking change.

 

For example, at Ohio State rapes and other crimes against women and minorities had been hidden behind a veil. In 1968 through 1969, students had repeated hunger strikes to demand the university install safety phones and lighting across campus, to openly disclose the dates-times-locations of crimes against women and minority students. Groups of students organized fair housing investigations to root out discrimination against African-American students seeking off-campus housing, submitting a list of those landlords discriminating to the university which approved all off-campus housing, and which itself owned over 1/3rd of the off-campus units. Other groups of students responded to Rachel Carson’s SILENT SPRING by pressing for environmental protections such as energy efficiency, recycling programs, food safety and responsible use of chemicals on campus. The draft, the lottery, the elimination of student exemption and the escalation of the war increased campus tension.

 

In February 1970, the presidents of OSU Afro-Am and of the student body of OSU asked for a meeting with the President of Ohio State to discuss a list of 21 requests prepared by African-American students. The president refused to meet with these student leaders or accept the list for his perusal, and the board of trustees likewise refused to do so. The list or requests became a list of demands, and a student strike was called. African-American and white students, male and female students,ecology proponents, anti-war students, and LGBT students found their common problem: a patriarchal institution which enforced “in loco parentis”and believed students should be seen and not heard; a government who sent 18 year olds to die and fight a people with whom they had no argument but would not allow them to drink beer or vote; and institutions which would deny the most basic civil rights, personal safety, and equal treatment to fellow students who by now viewed themselves as a community apart from the larger society.

 

The strike grew larger. Students took over the Oval just as the 99% occupy parks and cities today. Faculty joined in, holding classes on the Oval and working the strike and its issues into their curricula, holding teach-ins as well as sit-ins.A massive march from the Oval to the on-campus home of President Novice Fawcett was planned for the next day when I got a call from a hometown friend who asked to meet me at the state fairgrounds. When we met, I discovered he was billeted at the fairgrounds with other members of the National Guard, who were prepared to attack students who marched on the president’s home. He warned me to stay away from the march so I would not be endangered. Instead I approached the house from the rear to simply be a witness, where I was met by soldiers armed with M-16s who looked as frightened as I felt. It was the first, but not the last time I would have rifles shoved in my gut, ready to shoot on command.

 

The day after the first march, the commanding officer of the Guard asked to speak to students from our podium on the Oval, following Woody Hayes who gave us a pep talk and encouraged us to maintain a peaceful protest as we had so far done. The Guard commander assured us his troops were young men our own age who felt much like we did and meant us no harm, and would remain armed but without bullets in their rifles. He was cheered. The next day, Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes declared martial law, and removed and replaced the Guard commander by a new commander who assured us his men were armed and would not hesitate to shoot us. It seemed unthinkable.

 

We soon had reason to believe him.The movement grew in proportion to the unprovoked beatings, nearly daily pepper and tear gas attacks, and numerous arrests for simply being on the Oval. Even the frat boys joined in when state troopers gassed and shot into fraternity houses along fraternity row, chasing striking students from the Oval into surrounding neighborhoods.

 

Then, Cambodia was invaded and a powder keg was set aflame in the minds of students who had tried every peaceful method to be heard. The students at OSU, Kent and across the country became louder, more verbally combative, and tore up brick walkways for weapons instead of running away from billy club and gas attacks. Gas canisters and bullets flew into dormitories and crowds. Every night campus ministers took our activity fee collections to bail students out of jail, fearing we would be arrested if we went to the jail ourselves.

 

On May 4, 1970 shocked cries were heard across the country, “They killed 4 of us!”. We had become one family;our brothers and sisters had been killed and maimed. We knew their names: Alison Krause, Sandra Scheuer, Jeffrey Glenn Miller,and William K. Schroeder. At OSU, we later learned, more than 30 students had been treated for gunshot wounds, some paralyzed as some students were at Kent State. Newspapers were not printing such stories. We only discovered such stories during “public hearings” on campuses over the summer, when few students were present on campus to hear or to give testimony. The E.R. doctors had carefully created and maintained the shooting record on our behalf.

 

On May 15, 1970, a small group of Jackson State students rioted upon hearing a rumor that the brother of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Fayette, Mississippi Mayor Charles Evers and his wife had been shot and killed. 21 year old pre-law junior Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, and 17 year old James Earl Green were killed. Injured by gunfire, including one student simply sitting in a dormitory lobby, were: Fonzie Coleman, Redd Wilson, Jr.,Leroy Kentner, Vernon Steve Weakley, Gloria Mayhorn,Patricia Ann Sanders, Willie Woodard, Andrea Reese, Stella Spinks, Climmie Johnson, Tuwaine Davis, and Lonzie Thompson. Police and state troopers picked up their spent shell casings before they called the first ambulance to the scene.

 

Campuses, including Ohio State, were shut down, classes suspended, and every student sent home. The momentum which had been building across the country was stopped by attacking,wounding and even killing participants; and shutting down a place for students to gather. The same strategy is seen today in the institutional response to the 99%, Egyptian, and Syrian protesters. When the threat to institutions becomes acute, the response can cross the line.

 

For years afterward, students crossed to the other side of a street whenever they saw a police officer approaching, hid in doorways when a helicopter flew overhead, shivered when they saw a National Guard jeep or truck, tensed when they heard a police siren in the distance, moved away slowly when a dog approached.

 

With the election of President Obama we hoped those days were behind us, but the backlash against an African-American president indicates it has not. The forces which treated students, women, African-Americans and people of color,and LGBT community as less deserving of their citizenship rights are still at-large funding campaigns of hate and division. We are stronger and wiser than they are. We will not let them cross the line. We will hold the line by holding on to one another. Give me your hand!

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April 15, 2012 · 4:55 pm

MARRY UP GIRLS!

MARRY UP GIRLS!

Louise Annarino

April 15, 2012

 

In high school, every girl knew where to hang out to attract boys. Parents like mine made certain I was not among those girls. Such was the protective net flung over my head. It was a comfort. It allowed me time to seriously assess what my role in life would be without a man to influence my decisions; and what role men would have in that life. My focus was on education, career and independence. Motherhood and marriage seemed a given, and to be delayed until I could be self-sufficient. Only then, could I make the future secure for myself and some future family.

 

I deliberately wrote motherhood before marriage in the above sentence. Too many of those young women allowed to hang out with boys, became mothers first and married in haste after. A total loss of freedom and self-sufficiency, only one piece of the price they paid. The cost seemed too high then, and life has shown me it still is thus.

 

I had imagined university to be different. I expected it to be a community of scholars, where men and women were equals. It was not. Despite living in a coed dorm, rules differed for men and women. Women, but not men, were restricted to their floors after midnight, and had to be in dorm by that time. No late-night runs for pizza. Not even a chance to meet the pizza guy in the lobby to accept delivery. If a women left the dormitory in the evening, she had to write where she was going, with whom, a contact phone number, and expected time of return. The men were treated as adults; women were not.

 

I wrote a Declaration of Independence for the Women of Lincoln Tower. A group of us detached the sign-out books from the lobby counter, carried them outside and burned them in a bonfire for freedom. Today, we would be arrested. In the 60’s, we had a stern dressing-down from the Dean of Women and the Dean of Men.

 

It was unlikely that the books could be reordered and delivered before the year was out, so the sign-out system was suspended for the remainder of the year, and never reinstated. While all women students cheered this stand for our freedom, it did not truly reflect the underlying motivation of each woman.Too many were at university simply to find a well-educated husband who could support them. Too many had no interest in maintaining freedom through self-sufficiency. Too many were willing to sublimate their own identity as free women for the ease of being cared for by another.

 

As graduation approached these women panicked. “The best opportunity to find a rich husband is now! What will I do if I leave here and I am not engaged?” was an increasingly desperate question for them, and for their mothers, whose phone calls became more frequent. This was a new phenomenon to me. My Mother’s instructions were to get as much education as I could so I would never need to depend upon anyone; theirs was to find a rich husband so they would always have someone else to depend upon. This differing world view may explain a current quandary of mine.

 

That quandary is why any woman would vote for a Republican. But, I think I see how they could. They are the women I knew at university who believe a man will take care of them. Democratic women are those, like myself, who stand independently on their own feet, believe self-reliance brings true freedom, and form relationships with the men in their lives which are free and among equals. Perhaps, I cannot really know, Republican women are simply those women satisfied to be taken care of by a man. To each her own.

 

It is a free woman who decries anyone’s efforts to replace her decision-making with their own, be they a husband, bishop or a politician. It is a free woman who insists on joint discussion and decision making with her spouse, be their agreement or disagreement. Only when women are free to be themselves, are they free to love and free to share their lives with another. And all women Democratic or Republican seek freedom, even those who avoid expressing it in their relationships with the men in their lives. Even those who listened to their mothers and married up for financial security.

 

It is ironic that the very women willing to rely on men to take care of them, vote for men who say government has no, or very limited, role in taking care of the poor, the elderly, our health, our job security, our environment. Those men they trust to  care for them, cannot be trusted to care for us. They promise to end ObamaCare.They promise to close the Departments of Education, Environment, Labor, Health and Human Services. They get very confused over which agencies exist and whether they should be closed, but they know they must be gone! They oppose Affirmative Action, an effort to assure African-Americans, and all people of color can stand on their own, and be independent of white largesse oblige.

 

And these are good men. These are men who take care of their women and children, and believe they deserve respect and loyalty for so doing, for their largesse oblige. They fail to see what is right before their eyes: women and children and people of color who are their equals. By caring for them they deserve no special rank, nor praise. We are all equals, we men and women and children of every color and nationality. We are in this together. We care  for one another. We are our government. Our government is us. That is what it means to live in a democratic republic. Of course government will care for us, since we care for one another as equals entitled to the same opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

 

When we Democratic women challenge Republican men, Republican women will of course defend them upon whom the fortunes of their families rely. But, even Republican women now understand that such a paternalistic relationship can go and has gone, too far. Olympia Snowe(R) ME and Susan Collins (R)ME have supported President Obama’s efforts to assure insurance carriers provide women contraception coverage. “The women,” says Maria Cantwell, “are mad.” … you don’t feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters.”1 And Republican women are also speaking out, asking for support for their own contraceptive needs.2  We may be Democratic women. We may be Republican women. We are all sisters. It is time for women to take a second look at the men who would rule our lives. Ask Michelle Obama. She who is an equal among equals, one of us.

 

1. www.oregonlive.com › David Sarasohn › Columns

Apr 7, 2012 – “The women,” says Maria Cantwell, “are mad.” … you don’t feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters.”

 

2. http://julietjeske.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/on-birth-control-a-plea-to-republican-women/

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February 24, 2012 · 4:28 pm

A MAN'S WORLD BUT A WOMAN'S HEAVEN

A MAN’S WORLD BUT A WOMAN’S HEAVEN

Louise Annarino

February 24, 2012

 

“It’s a man’s world but a woman’s heaven,” Sister Robertine, Vice Principal and teacher of Latin would tell us girls as she took on the uncomfortable task of teaching girls’ religion class our senior year. It was clear she found comfort in such an idea. I had noticed her on many occasions staring down the Principal, Fr. MacFarlane, arms akimbo, the rosary beads hanging from her wide black belt shaking with passion. It was she who would tell me, “I’ll speak to Father about it” when I complained about a school policy or procedure I believed unfair to us girls. Later, when Father altered his position, I knew whom to thank; although, he never acknowledged Sister’s role in the matter. I wondered why he was called “father”, but she was called “sister”. Was she not his equal? Should she not be called “mother”?

 

Sr. Canisia was a master of power plays. She would stomp about the classroom shouting “Maozeedung!” as she stalked us from behind, trying to teach us world history. When she became utterly exasperated she slammed her fist against the blackboard, then picked up her pace and stomped about, stopping to push aside a desk to wake up a bored student. One such day she suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs. Since Father’s office was directly beneath the classroom, she listened for those footsteps. We all did. She rushed to her desk, put a finger to her mouth and said quietly, “NOT ONE WORD!”

 

Father strode into the classroom without knocking on the closed door, eyebrows and voice raised he asked, “What is going on here? We are trying to get some work done downstairs!” Her head hanging low Sister meekly replied, “I can’t do a thing with these heathens today, Father. They are simply uncontrollable. SIgh.” As Father began his lecture, Sister looked over the class, her glaze hardened against any potential traitors who would challenge her version of events. None dared. Father left, humphing and harrumphing. Students resumed breathing; and Sister smiled in triumph. She had pulled one over on him. She noticed my deepening grin and her eyes began to twinkle, recognizing a comrade in arms.

 

As the male caretakers of morality allow themselves to be used by the Republican Party to distract voters from the true sins of the world – poverty, joblessness, lack of health care, racism, sexism, homophobia, destruction of the environment – I think about those nuns who demonstrated feminism in action to teenage Catholic school girls. Their only comfort was a belief heaven awaited them. I wanted that heaven on earth for women, as it existed for on earth for men. I was unwilling to wait until after my death for equality.

 

Every nun in our high school had a Ph.D. or was working on a Ph.D. Yet, the only fields then open to women were nursing, teaching or secretarial work. A few were librarians or social workers. They had no other comfort than a belief the future would be better. And that belief fueled the girls whom they taught. We became lawyers, doctors, bankers, plumbers, carpenters, engineers, astronauts, and politicians. Heaven became possible on earth. But, not easy, never easy.

 

The male domination of the world continued. Men “allowed” us a few slots, and continued to believe in their natural right to dominate us. They refused to change the structures, policies and systems which met their needs and supported their success. The needs of women, especially, those with children, required a change in policies, structures and systems which men fought at every turn. In fact, without readily available birth control, most women could never have taken the stage alongside men. There is no need to rehash what we have each experienced for ourselves – women’s struggles to succeed in a “man’s world”. Those who do, do so because of the support of strong men who are not threatened by women’s equality, and with the support of other women. Women have little trouble admitting to ourselves that we cannot do it alone. We are genetically and chemically programmed to work in tandem with those around us, building communities of support within our families and within the larger family of man. We are strong supporters of the 99%.

 

It is no mystery that the male morality police have been seeking to stop our access to birth control as a means of restricting our options for escape from their dominance and control. They do not like our insistence on assuring the welfare of human beings as they seek wealth and power around the globe. Women cry out against wars. Women cry out against hunger,poverty,racism, homophobia,environmental degradation. They see the connection between such sins and the lack of a possible heaven on earth for anyone else.They cry out to protect their children,and every woman’s child. Face it; we women get in men’s way, and they have had enough! They are angry because they think that the more we have the less they can get. We expect them to share their toys; they want to take their marbles and go home.

 

Well, women have had enough, more than enough. Women are careful with their anger, realizing the possible harm which could come to their beloved husbands, sons and grandsons;most of whom gave up male despotism decades ago. Women tread lightly.

But, women tread their way to the polls. Women vote. The 2012 election is vital at the local, county, state and federal level. Do we want anti-science climate change deniers on our school boards? Do we want right to work laws which lower wages for all workers while busting unions enacted in our state house? Do we want to protect insurance company profits by returning to days when a pre-existing condition effectively denied you coverage by electing congresspersons who would dismantle Obamacare?

 

Do we want to live in communities across the United States which would approve Jim Crow laws, restrict to right to vote, deny women access to birth control, demonize immigrants and assure the fulfillment heaven on earth for white men? Or, do we want equal opportunity for all? Do we want the promise of a future heaven on earth because we support every single person’s right to pursue happiness? We cannot elect those who  tell us only the 1% have the know-how, the innate ability, and the wisdom to allow us to participate in their heaven. Don’t we really want our own heaven on earth? What arrogance to “allow” us what is our right!

 

Vote for President Obama, whose message of hope is not just for America’s sons, but for its daughters as well. Vote for President Obama, whose message of hope is not just for African-Americans or white Americans, but for all Americans. Vote for President Obama.

 

We women recognize voting for President Obama is not enough. we must vote for his support system. We must vote out those racists who undermine every move he makes on our behalf, simply because he is an African-American man. We must vote out those who undermine him simply to protect their golden parachutes. We must vote out those who undermine him simply to protect their excessive profits hidden in off-shore accounts. He is trying to rebuild this country to support ALL of us. we cannot elect those who undermine him simply because we are in their way. A man’s world and a woman’s heaven? Not for long, Not for long…

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January 23, 2012 · 11:46 pm

LETTERS FROM HOME: POLITICAL E-MAILS

LETTERS FROM HOME: Political E-Mails

Louise Annarino,

January 23, 2012

Political e-mails, I call them “letters from home”, from friends and family tend to fall into one of several categories:

  1. Ad hominem attacks on President Obama using “facts” proven untrue: e.g. refuses to show his birth certificate, apologist for America as evildoer, spending country into ruin, raised taxes etc.
  2. References to an un-cited article published by well-known news source as basis for  “facts” proven untrue.
  3. Religious pieces with art depicting Christ on the cross, candles with moving flames across the flag and cross; citing scripture etc. before attacking Obama for stopping Americans from praying, reading scripture or forcing them to pay for abortions.
  4. Letters from unknown  or anonymous (they would be destroyed if they disclosed their identity)persons, veterans, military personnel, or secret agents describing some horrendous anti-American act/ statement by President Obama which Politifact and other neutral fact checkers indicate are lies.
  5. Racist rants.

The one thing each of these has in common is that they intertwine reality with lies, their source cannot be found, there is no factual basis for the allegations contained within, they claim liberal-elitist media is keeping the story under wraps…AND…we are warned that if we do not forward this information something terrible will happen.

I used to go line-by-line refuting each allegation with facts which were properly cited to original source material, and hit “reply all” asking each person to forward my response to others whom they had sent the e-mail. I received 3 types of response:

  1. a personal attack on my character, intelligence and morality ( I am being prayed for all over America!);
  2. personal threats to maim or kill me;
  3. warnings to never send such Obama garbage to them again (of course they persist in continuing to send me attack Obama e-mails);
  4. no response at all.

Now, I just hit “delete”. Because such emails are not a true effort to communicate. The people who send them are not inherently stupid, nor deranged. They are not un-educated, nor unread. They are not mean, nor uncaring. They simply hate having an African-American president more they than hate sounding stupid. Yes, they also hate having a Democratic president. But what frightens them most is that the era of  heterosexual,white male dominance is over. They sense the game can’t be rigged in their favor much longer. African-Americans, Latinos, East Asians, West Africans and other new immigrant groups are gaining demographic majority far faster than anticipated. Women and the LGBT community are gaining professional and economic clout at an increasing pace. President and Michelle Obama are a daily “in-your-face” reminder that the power of privileged white men is on shaky ground. They need to dominate our political bodies: legislative, executive and judicial to maintain their presumed superiority. President Obama’s success are an affront to their control. They do not fear he is failing the country; they fear his success. What else can they do but lie … to themselves, to one another, and to us – their family and friends? And, when we do not buy the lie, they attack us personally.  I cannot lie to myself or to them, merely to hold the sense of family and friendship. I welcome the wonders a diverse leadership of this country can bring. As a woman, I resent their insistence I must accept their white, male dominance as a sacred reality. I am saddened by this loss of communion. I had enjoyed communicating with them. I no longer do. Is this how the Civil War became possible?

Even right-wing, Tea Party, Christian fundamentalist Michele Bachman is an unacceptable threat to the male dominance espoused by  today’s political conservatives: “Rival presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s Iowa coalitions director, Jamie Johnson, sent out an email saying that children’s lives would be harmed if the nation had a female president. He wrote it in June, but it surfaced on the campaign trail in the fall.

“The question then comes, ‘Is it God’s highest desire, that is, his biblically expressed will, … to have a woman rule the institutions of the family, the church, and the state?’ ” Johnson’s email said.”

– DesMoines Register ,January 12, 2012 , Jennifer Jacobs;

Candidate Santorum offered no response; and Johnson, in an NBC interview stated his position is rooted in “classical Christian doctrine.”

That explains why so many people are praying for me! Please comment explaining how you handle such e-mails.

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