Some people wonder why women, people of color, etc. still have beef with everyday subtle and not so subtle assaults against the core of who they are. Well, as long as we still have the madness below happening or any other “ism” related crimes happening, we all have legit beef.
Before you read the below, an anecdote:
When I was in college at Eugene Lang, there was a class called “The Whiteness of Blackness” where we studied texts from the 1880s - 1930s and how skin color affected privilege. Of course, one cannot just regulate conversation to Frederick Douglas or Nella Larsen. You have to move over, as a forming adult, to your own personal experiences because you have no idea that they are worth much or are not so unique yet so you have to talk about them. All the time.
There was a pretty pink haired, pierced, pixie white girl from Connecticut who “knew exactly what it felt like to be looked at differently because of your appearance.” Once, she said, she was followed around a store for forty minutes. Said girl also lived next door to Bryant Gumbel.
Enter beautiful somewhat well off conservative black girl who could have very much been Clare Huxtable. Young Clare says to Pretty Pink Hair, “I got followed too when I was home last.” Young Clare brushes a piece of lint off of her Donna Karan pants as Pretty Pink Hair digs a purposeful hole into her own consciously ratty cashmere sweater. “But you can dye your hair back, take your piercings out and they won’t follow you anymore. The only thing I would have to do is take off my skin.”
The moral: there’s always a bigger picture to what ever suffering you may have. Doesn’t mean it’s a pretty picture though.
India probes baby body parts find
By Jyotsna Singh
BBC News, Delhi
Police in the eastern Indian state of Orissa say they have recovered nearly 30 bags full of babies’ body parts from a waste dump near a maternity clinic.
Forensic tests are being carried out on the remains following the raid near the town of Nayagarh on Sunday.
It is thought the find could be linked to the killing of female foetuses - a practice fairly widespread in India.
According to one estimate, up to 10m female foetuses may have been aborted in the country in the past two decades.
India, where boys have traditionally been favoured over girls, banned gender selection and selective abortion in 1994.
Buried
A senior police office in Orissa said they raided an area outside Nayagarh following a tip-off.
The bags, full of skulls and bones, were buried inside a pit in a plot of land belonging to a maternity clinic owner.
The clinic owner and manager have now been taken into custody by the police.
Officials say it is not possible at this stage to say exactly how many bodies were found in the bags.
“We cannot put any numbers. We have to wait for the details of the investigation,” BK Sharma, Orissa crime branch inspector general said.
Media reports last week said seven female foetuses had been thrown into a garbage dump in another area in the state.
The recovery prompted the state chief minister to order a wider inquiry.
Skewed sex ratio
Sunday’s raid came as part of the drive begun by the special crime police across the state.
Officials say a detailed investigation is now under way and initial indications point to sex selective abortions.
Similar incidents have been reported from other parts of the country in recent months, raising concerns about India’s dwindling female population.
Female foeticide is believed to be one of the main reasons for the skewed sex ratio in India.
India’s minister for Women and Child Development, Renuka Chowdhary, has said the government plans to monitor all pregnancies to prevent female foeticide.
In June, police arrested the owner of a clinic near Delhi on suspicion of illegally aborting female foetuses.
The arrest followed a raid at the clinic in Gurgaon in Haryana state. Officials said the remains of several foetuses were found in a well nearby.
Last year, a surprise raid in Patiala district in Punjab province unearthed the remains of at least 50 female foetuses from a well by a private clinic.
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