Author: Glenn (Freedom of Movement) Robinson

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Dwarfs, Little People and the M-Word

 

The following exchange, reprinted here in its entirety, began with an e-mail to Ebert’s Movie Answer Man column.

From Daniel Woodburn to Roger Ebert


April 6, 2005

Dear Mr. Ebert,

I am an actor that you have reviewed neither favorably nor unfavorably in two different movies: one was “Death to Smoochy,” the other “Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her.” I have absolutely no objection to you trashing a film or lauding it. I do object to the use of the word “midgets” in your review of “Death to Smoochy.”

As a writer you are aware of the power of words. The use of the word midget is, for Little People, equated with any other hate word someone might use to describe a minority group. I simply ask you: if you were to see Little People children would you take away their humanity in the same way with the use of such a hate word? I can respect a yes answer but I cannot respect the person who answers yes.

Sincerely, Danny Woodburn

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Source: www.rogerebert.com

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Outrage And Sorrow After Teen Shot Dead By Police

 

Following the shooting of 18-year-old man by a police officer in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, an outraged community gathered to demand answers. Michael Brown, a black teen and recent high school graduate, was shot dead in the city north of St. Louis on Saturday. The victim’s grandmother said she found her grandson’s body in the street, shortly after seeing him walking near her home, the Associated Press reports. A spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department confirmed that a Ferguson police officer shot the man, but provided no further details on why the shooting occurred. Witnesses said that Brown was unarmed, KMOV reports.

 

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

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Beyond the border: the US’s deadly immigration crisis

 

Texas has become the deadliest state in the US for undocumented immigrants. This four-part series from the Guardian and The Texas Observer looks at the lives affected by the humanitarian crisis.

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In Brooks County alone, the bodies of at least 294 people who died trying to hike around the Border Patrol checkpoint were recovered from February 2011 to March 2014.

 

Source: www.theguardian.com

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New statistics: Pregnancy discrimination claims hit low-wage workers hardest

New data from the EEOC show that pregnancy discrimination hits virtually every industry and every geographic area of the country.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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Israel-Gaza conflict: Right-wing Israeli politician calls for Gazans to be ’concentrated in camps’ – and then all resistance ‘exterminated’

A senior Israeli politician has called for the “conquest of the entire Gaza Strip” and the deportation of Palestinians to make way for Jewish settlers.

Source: www.independent.co.uk

 

Where have we heard this kind of thinking before?

 

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Laverne Cox, Janet Mock Talk Stigma of Loving Transgender Women – COLORLINES

 

Transgender activists Laverne Cox and Janet Mock joined scholar Mark Anthony Neal and The Nation’s Mychal Denzel Smith for a discussion on HuffPost Live about DJ Mister Cee

 

Source: colorlines.com

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Family of mentally ill inmate says guards laughed and joked as he died

 

“I can see you breathing,” Cheryl Neumeister called to a shackled, mentally ill — and dead — inmate, whose slow-motion death took place in the presence of casually chatting prison personnel, and on video.

Fifteen more minutes dragged by before guards pulled the body of Christopher Lopez, 35, from an intake cell and they realized he had died.

Moments later, a guard called for medical “backup.”

It is the first hint on the nearly six-hour video that anyone witnessing the man’s almost comatose behavior, uncontrollable shaking, grand mal seizures and disturbed breathing realized he was in dire need of medical attention.

The video, taken at San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo on March 17, 2013, is evidence in a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver by Lopez’s mother, Juanita Lopez.

In a release responding to the suit, prison officials said within 10 days of the incident, three employees were terminated and another five were subjected to corrective and/or disciplinary action.

Neumeister, a mental health clinician, was among those fired, according to the suit.

Lopez, a schizophrenic, died of severe hyponatremia, a condition that occurs when sodium levels are too low. “Almost all instances of hyponatremia are treatable if a person receives prompt and adequate medical attention,” the suit said.

 

Source: www.denverpost.com