Friday, November 1

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Kennedy Resignation Sparks New Urgency for First-Time Women Candidates of Color
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Kennedy Resignation Sparks New Urgency for First-Time Women Candidates of Color

If elected to Congress, they would counter conservative decisions from the court with progressive lawmaking. Nearly two years into the racially charged Trump administration and widespread exposure of sexual harassment and assault of women in public life, women of color have been engaged and eager to change the face of the Democratic Party and Congress. They now find new urgency in the recently announced retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose swing vote seat will likely be claimed by a hard-line conservative this year. President Donald Trump announced his list of replacements for Kennedy, many of whom are White social conservatives hostile to organized labor and young enough to steer the direction of the court for decades. Meanwhile, the rest of the nation ...
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Why Does White Fragility Show Up at Workplace Diversity Trainings?
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Why Does White Fragility Show Up at Workplace Diversity Trainings?

One way that whites protect their positions when challenged on race is to invoke the discourse of self-defense. As a former professor and current facilitator and consultant, I am in a position to give white people feedback on how their unintentional racism is manifesting itself. In this position, I have observed countless enactments of white fragility. One of the most common is outrage: “How dare you suggest that I could have said or done something racist?” Although these are unpleasant moments for me, they are also rather amusing. The reason I’m there in the first place is because I have been hired specifically to do that; I have been asked to help the members of the organization understand why their workplace continues to remain white, why they are having so much trouble recruiting...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

How Babies Adapt to Their Mother’s Physiological State

The classic image at New Year's where old Father Time represents the year just ended while the bannered New Year's baby emerges onstage, heralds the iconic star of a conference I attended in San Diego recently. Sponsored by the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) the international congress addressed the scientific and psycho-social discoveries centered on "the conscious baby." Founded in 1983 by Canadian psychiatrist Thomas R. Verny MD, and David Chamberlain PhD, the APPPAH started as a small group of people who shared an interest in the sensitivity and consciousness of babies. Membership chair and parental educator Barbara Decker explains, "Their premise is that babies are having experiences in the womb-welcoming or not being welcomed, experiencing fear...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Why Culture Matters

The definition of culture in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. Although accurate, I find this definition lacking, as it does not begin to reveal the scope of its importance or influence on those within it. My definition of culture would be something like this: The powerful and often unseen deterministic force that drives the behavior of those within it. Whether we like it or not, the cultures we inhabit tend to have a greater influence on what we do, like, and become than we realize. We all like to think of ourselves as individuals governed by our own thoughts and desires, but the truth is, outside forces are impacting us every minute of everyday, and usually outside of our own conscious awareness. We like...
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How Do I Begin to Understand Random Violence?
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

How Do I Begin to Understand Random Violence?

To cure the violence, we must identify and heal the causes of hatred and violence. If we don't deal with the causes we will never be safe. ~Peter Yarrow~ The term random violence suggests that there is no explanation for such acts which have become all too commonplace recently. Acceptance that there is no explanation implies that that there is nothing we can do about it. The approach of placing more guns in the hands of civilians has been promoted as one possible solution although it sounds scary to me. Commentators and others have scratched their heads trying to clarify the reasons for this violence. Among the possibilities are parenting styles, the effects of mental illness, the proliferation of guns, violent video games, media sensationalism and violent lyrics in music. We would li...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

How to Make a Criminal

How to Make a Criminal-A Recipe So you want to make a criminal? Well, here's a simple recipe for you. Of course you must assemble all the ingredients first. Also, you have to know that no matter how careful you stir and mix and how careful you are of the oven temperature, it could turn out that you have made a normal, rule-abiding citizen. That's the nature of the best, not everyone who is baked like this turns out to be a criminal Ingredients: • A culture that creates socio-economic disadvantage • A family structure that increases stress from an early age • A community that encourages selfishness, law-breaking and violence • A school that fails its students • A brain that is delicate and poorly self-regulated • A criminal justice system that focuses on punishment Now, here is how to ac...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Is Trump a Threat to Your First Amendment Rights?

"If you don't agree with me, shut up!" "And if you don't shut your mouth, I'll shut it for you!" That seems to be the alarming attitude of a significant number of American college students, based on a new survey of 1,500 respondents from both private and public colleges, conducted by John Villasenor of UCLA. Among the disturbing findings, 19% advocate violence to silence a speaker engaged in "hate speech," and 51% think it is OK to shout down a speaker with whom they disagree. The students also showed serious ignorance about the First Amendment; only 39% knew that "hate speech" is indeed protected. While students' ignorance and these views are reprehensible, they are shared by some faculty members. Monday, at my alma mater at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, 30 academic...
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Type 2 Diabetes and Weight Loss – What Are Your Chances of Success?
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Type 2 Diabetes and Weight Loss – What Are Your Chances of Success?

First things first: this is not meant to be a wake-up call. And naturally, being told your chances of succeeding are not as high as your chances of failing, may feel demoralizing. Your chances of succeeding at any endeavor - whether it is in regards to health, career, or a relationship - always carry with them a risk of failure. And more often than not, your chances of anything other than success (not necessarily implying failure), are going to be higher. Why? On a long enough timeline, there is just too much of the unexpected to account for. There is too much outside of your control that could go wrong. And even if all of these factors line up correctly, what is to suggest your efforts would be flawless? It is just irrational to expect to avoid mistakes all the time. You are not perfect,...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Wake Up America! Beware Of Change For Change Sake: The Health Care Debate/Debacle

Ever since, the, then - controlled, Democratic Congress, passed/ enacted the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare), the opposition, Republican Party (GOP), has continuously attempted to repeal this legislation. While Obama was President, he possessed the veto - power, so the dozens of attempts, became little more than costly, time - wasting positioning. These politicians were able to try to motivate their bases/ constituencies, using a combination of empty rhetoric and promises, blaming, complaining, and negativity, while not having to bring forth a viable solution/ replacement. With the elections of 2016, when Trump was elected President, and the Republicans had control of both houses of Congress, these politicians found themselves, having to put up, or shut up, because they were expected ...
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