Song for Ourselves

COME CHECK OUT THIS FILM!!!!! It's a documentary about Chris Ijima, a musician, who led the way in the movement through his power in music.

Saturday, February 28, 2009, 7:30pm
Aaratnai/Japan America Theatre
244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles (Little Tokyo)
$10 General Admission, $50 VIP Tickets
For tickets and info, visit www.jaccc.org or
call (213) 680-3700.

Lives performances by Blue Scholars, Bambu, and Kiwi, and special guests-- Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin!

Senz of Depth Plug

My man produced his first album and it came out a little whiles ago. I just wanted to put in a plug and hope that you can check out his music! Please please download the album! You won't be disappointed.

http://www.milessenzaki.com/senzofdepth_index.html

He's working on some projects right now. He amazes me with his craft every time I hear something new he produces. Stay tuned for more!

Equality for All!

So this week I will blog on two props:

Prop 10 first - California Alternative Fuels Initiative and Prop 8 - Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act


Prop 10 -- This plan sounds great, but it actually is a very unfair attempt at helping our planet.

The initiative authorizes $5 billion in bonds paid from state’s General Fund, allocated approximately as follows:

• 58% in cash payments of between $2,000 and $50,000 to purchasers of certain high fuel economy and alternative fuel vehicles;
• 20% in incentives for research, development and production of renewable energy technology;
• 11% in incentives for research and development of alternative fuel vehicle technology;
• 5% in incentives for purchase of renewable energy technology;
• 4% in grants to eight cities for education about these technologies; and
• 3% in grants to colleges to train students in these technologies.

(http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_10_(2008))

The prop authorizes $5billion of state bond (plus interest!) to be distributed to people to purchase natural gas cars. It only benefits natural gas companies, who are the same companies who paid to get this proposition on the ballot. Don't feel fooled! Vote no on 10!

http://www.noonproposition10.org/


On to Prop 8 - Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act

NO on 8! No on 8!No on 8! It's simple, 8 is fucked up! Prop 8 takes away the right to marriage for lesbian and gay couples in California. Lesbian women and gay men have every right as heterosexual people to marry. Human beings are BORN gay, bisexual, lesbian, intersex, or transgender. Christian right-wing crazies - you can't change a person's sexuality! Just 70 years ago, it was wrong to have interracial marriages, especially with Whites. This is the same struggle except the LGBTQI movement hasn't gained attention until now because of backlash and stigma. If you find out that your child is gay, would you deny their right to marry the person he loves? I hope not!

http://www.noonprop8.com/

Voter Guide on Propositions

I used to work with the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON). For most Elections, they come out with a voter guide. Their most recent voter guide, you can find here:

http://www.a3pcon.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=30&Itemid=42


I pretty much am aligned with the way they recommend voting. The only prop that I want to cover besides what's listed on that guide is 1A - California High Speed Rail. I'm leaning towards voting NO because we currently cannot afford this 10 billion dollar project. But, I'll get back to you on this one! Stay tuned!

Down with Palin! Up with the People!

I WANNA GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO MY MOM! MY DAD! MY SISTER! 5th grade class of Mr. Streit at P.S. 71! M.S. 158! And my DOG!

Sarah's Law will endanger our young sistahs!

Prop 4 - Abortion Waiting Period and Parental Notification Initiative (aka Sarah's Law)

I'm going to tell you a story that I hope will automatically make you vote NO on this extremely dangerous proposition.

My college mentor told me a story about her mom who was a nurse in a hospital in LA. One night a 14-year old girl was rolled into the ER on a bed lying in a pool of her own blood. The girl's boyfriend came in with her frantically crying. Apparently, this couple tried to do a self-abortion with a metal coat hanger because they didn't know where to go or what to do about the young womyn's pregnancy. That night, that 14-year old girl died. My mentor's mom changed profession and said that scarred her for life.

This is the THIRD time parental notification is on the California ballot. Proponents have changed the terminologies over and over again hoping that the law will pass with the new words they choose to fool voters. Also, they added new stipulations making it "easier" for a young pregnant womyn to get an abortion if she should choose to. Don't be fooled! Prop 4, if passed, poses an insurmountable danger to young women who will be too scared to approach anyone in their family about being pregnant.

Prop 4:

• Provides exceptions for medical emergency or parental waiver. (the prop says she can be waived by a family, but what if the young womyn can't approach anyone in the family, which is VERY common!)
• Permits courts to waive notice based on clear and convincing evidence of minor’s maturity or best interests. (TRUE, but these young womyn have no access to transportation or guidance on how to do this.. having an abortion is already difficult, don't make it more difficult for a young scared womyn. Also, the stipulation says the young womyn has only 3 days to get to the doctor then to the court and then back to the doctor. This just is not possible).
• Mandates reporting requirements, including reports from physicians regarding abortions on minors.
• Authorizes monetary damages against physicians for violation.
• Requires minor’s consent to abortion, with exceptions.
• Permits judicial relief if minor’s consent is coerced.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_4_(2008)

Try to imagine yourself as a 15-year old pregnant girl. You're scared beyond belief and the guy who got you pregnant isn't there for you to support you. Your uncle, the only family member besides your mom, molested you as a child, your dad died, and your mom is physically and emotionally abusive, and you have no other family members. Who do you go to for help when you're scared out of your mind because you missed your period? And you know you can't have this baby, but the legal system has made it all too difficult for you to get this abortion without your mother finding out.

Don't be fooled by this third attempt of parental notification. It says that the teenager can get permission from the court or another family member, but it isn't that easy. I urge you, PLEASE, to vote NO on Prop 4! Sarah's Law will endanger these young womyn to commit harm to themselves. Please don't let that happen. VOTE NO on PROP 4.

I'm so adamant about voting NO on this prop that I'm only giving you one link:
Teen Safety Website -- http://www.noonprop4.org/

Nas and Black Feminism

"We were all scholars long before colleges." - Nasir Jones

Just wanted to share something that I hope all of you take to heart. Our lived experiences is true knowledge. I think Nas was reading some black feminist work. Audre Lorde and Patricia Hill Collins have been writing about this for the LONGEST time. However, I don't think this theory became widely known until a man put it out there. There's some sexism there, but I'm grateful that Mr. Jones put it out.

And I just had to share something deep from Nas. I just had ta rep my Queensbridge man.

No on 6 !

Hello World,

I decided to start a blog covering some critical issues around the world through my standpoint epistemology. I want to start the blog off with my two shiny pennies on California propositions. Each blog, up until Election Day, will cover propositions that are important to me.

I want to first talk about Proposition 6, Safe Neighborhoods Act.

Those supporting prop 6 say that this measure is "a comprehensive anti-gang and crime reduction measure that will bring more cops and increased safety to our streets and greater efficiency and accountability to public safety programs and agencies that spend taxpayer money." (http://www.safeneighborhoodsact.com/) Sounds like something that's going to help your community huh? Right...

• Prop 6 doesn't propose any change to medicate and cure the severely deep wound in our disastrous criminal justice system. It is a mere band-aid to the open war wound. The Safe Neighborhoods Act, which will cost $1 BILLION/year, if passed will reallocate funds from the California K-12 public school funds, higher education, health and human services, business, transportation and housing, and environmental protection in order to fund increase operations in jails and prisons. Okay. Just THAT alone demonstrates the clear flaw with prop 6. Money will be taken away from educating children and providing them with the necessary nurture to steer them away from violence and committing crimes. Instead of putting money into building more jails and prisons and increasing the operational costs of prisons (which private contractors and our government make so much dang money from!), put the money into the community! PREVENTION is the solution, not expansion of the criminal justice system. You wanna help victims? Education and organize our children for the good of our society.

• If that's not enough - prop 6 will also try 14-year old teenagers as adults and not as juveniles! Can you imagine KIDS navigating themselves through the court system? That's absurd and inhumane! ACLU should file a charge against the 750,000 people who signed the petition to support this measure.

• The measure also requires all those applying for public housing get criminal background checks. How can anyone get their life back on track if they don't have a place to live and can't afford their own place? Those released from jail or prison have a hard time getting a job as it is. The other issue is that if just ONE person in the public housing unit doesn't pass the check, the entire family is evicted.
  
  
• Local law enforcements can contact ICE about any undocumented immigrants they arrested.
  

I know y'all probably don't want to read long posts. There are MANY reasons why you should VOTE NO on PROP 6 and I can't cover them all on a blog. But certainly, we all need to make our educated choices. So you can research yourself, here are some links:

Rundown: ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=California_Proposition_6_(2008)
No on 6: www.defeatrunner.org/index.html
Yes on 6: www.safeneighborhoodsact.com/

Hope this was helpful!