Northern California - Justice for Laya Coalition Meeting @ UC Berkeley
Thursday, March 3, 2011 @ 7pm
Meeting location: TBA
Former/Current UC students encouraged to attend!!
For more information on the meeting and/or the Justice For Laya campaign, please contact ivy@mariposacenterforchange.org or call 323.640.SAFE (7233)
Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism Refuedalization and Marginalization
SF Bay Area Chapter
SF Bay Area Chapter
» Fuck Yeah, Gender Studies!: Sex Workers are Daughters, too: new campaign launches in Canada
I read about this from Elizabeth Pisani over on her blog, Wisdom of Whores:
[Canada has begun filling] the streets with posters aimed at extricating sex workers from social non-existence. Halifax group Stepping Stones is running an ad campaign reminding people that hookers are mothers,…
Northern California Justice for Laya Coalition Meeting
MARIPOSA CENTER FOR CHANGE CONTINUES TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR LAYA!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2011 Maureen Ivy Quicho, MSW ivy@mariposacenterforchange.org MARIPOSA CENTER FOR CHANGE CONTINUES TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR LAYA! The Mariposa Center for Change will continue to stand by Laya despite the ongoing media barrage of lies being told by her alleged attacker, UC Student Regent Jesse Cheng. Laya accused Cheng of attempting to rape her, citing her filing of a police report of the incident on Oct. 26th and Cheng’s subsequent arrest on Nov. 4th for sexual battery. In a recent statement released by Cheng, he minimized the rape attempt, insinuating that Laya is a scorned ex-girlfriend who wants to get back at him for a failed relationship. Cheng previously sent Laya emails where he admitted, “I am sorry for sexually assaulting you,” and, “I am a horrible person for what I did for (to) you, I tried to rape you…” Now, Cheng claims that Laya forced him to write these emails. “Cheng’s Minimizing, denying and blaming of Laya and what he did are actions that reflect that of an abuser. It’s always the context or the behavior or anyone else’s fault except for himself,” said Mariposa Center for Change Clinical Director, Wilma De Castro, “Cheng would like us to believe that their past relationship is an acceptable context for a reprehensible act. What is more believable, is that he felt he was above the law and that she would not speak out, nonetheless release those emails.” The Mariposa Center for Change strongly emphasizes that there is NEVER A CONTEXT FOR RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT. According to the U.S. Dept of Justice, two-thirds of rape and sexual assault victims 18 to 29 years old had a prior relationship with the rapist; however, a prior relationship does not justify rape. In many instances, the mention of a prior relationship in sexual assault cases is done to put into question the validity of a victim’s statement. However, the real question that remains is whether the Orange County District Attorney’s office is taking this matter of sexual assault as lightly as Cheng is. The Mariposa Center for Change demands JUSTICE FOR LAYA and an end to Cheng’s lies as he continues to revictimize not only Laya, but the UC Community. Students, alumni, and community members are calling for Cheng to be removed from his position as UC Student Regent, that Laya receive full legal justice, and that Women’s Resource Centers on University of California campuses be retained and funded in order to address and help prevent campus rape and sexual assault. Justice for Laya Coalition meetings, coordinated by the Mariposa Center for Change and AF3IRM, are being held all over the state this week, since the first meeting at the UC Irvine Campus. Those interested in joining the coalition should contact: ivy@mariposacenterforchange.org. ###
» America's Food Sweatshops and the Workers of Color Who Feed Us | | AlterNet
A movement for food justice must encompass the food workers that toil in sweatshop-like conditions, the often-invisible labor that help bring our food to the table.
People of color typically make less than whites working in the food chain. Half of white food workers earn $25,024 a year, while workers of color make $5,675 less than that. This wage gap plays out in all four sectors of the food system—production, processing, distribution and service—with largest income divides occurring in the food processing and distribution sectors. Women working in the food chain draw further penalties in wages, especially women of color. For every dollar a white male worker earns, women of color earn almost half of that.
Few people of color hold management positions in the food system. Whites dominate high-wage professional and management occupations; three out of every four managers in the food system are white. Almost half of white men working in the food chain were employed as managers, while less than 10 percent of workers of color held comparable positions.
People of color are concentrated in low-wage jobs in the food chain. According to the 2008 Census, people of color make up 34.6 percent of the population (that percentage is expected to rise as 2010 Census data becomes available). But workers of color are represented at a level almost one and a half times that in sectors of the food chain. For instance, 50 percent of food production workers are people of color. This includes farm workers, 65 percent of whom are Latino.
Great advances have been made to ensure that our food is locally sourced and sustainably grown. Communities of color across the nation are taking food production in their hands, by converting abandoned lots in urban deserts into fertile, urban farms and gardens. But a movement for food justice must also encompass the food workers that currently toil in sweatshop-like conditions, the often-invisible labor that help bring our food to the table.
