What’s News In This Story?
–Priest Douggie Smith and his team at the First Rastafari Church and Cultural Center of Florida are doing something unique.
–They are trying to get local Rastafari out of the shadows and into the center of the larger community.
-Priest Douggie: “We didn’t create a space for Rastafari alone we created a space for the community so Rastafari and the community can interact together and build our community in a positive way.”
-Priest Douggie’s message and style has attracted some interesting non Rastafari people to his new center for cultural events.
–According to Priest Douggie, there is a large Rastafari community in South Florida, but they are scattered around the region.
–From 1993 to 2007, there was a Rastafari church in Miami but it was forced to close during the recession.
-From that time to the opening of the new center, local Rastafari had to meet at homes and in parks to worship with each other.
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This Photo Of 8 Year Old Jada Page’s Mom Lying On Her Grave Should Wake Us All Up About Gun Violence
Jada Page was a typical happy-go-lucky eight year old living life in Miami.
But in late August, she was gunned down in her front yard.
Her father was also shot in the incident and the perpetrators are still on the loose, with little information for the police to go on.
It was a massive local news story in South Florida but her death has since faded into the background.
But this photo might change things a bit.
The heartbreaking photo shows Jada’s mother, Dominique Brown lying on her daughter’s grave in a near fetal position. The agony on her face only blocked due to the angle.
The photo was posted on Facebook this morning by anti-gun violence activist Tangela Sears.
“Amazing how our Community is quick to switch the subject after a Police shooting in another State,” Sears said in the Facebook post. “I live in Miami and our kids are not being killed by the police, but we seem to be outraged by police shootings.”
Jada’s killers are still on the loose.
She was murdered.
She was eight.
What is this community going to do about it?
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Photo Credit: Tangela Sears
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Terrorism By Any Other Name Is Just As Deadly
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines terrorism thusly:
“The use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of achieving a political goal.”
Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? However, in the wake of the shooting which occurred at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic, another term is being thrown around: domestic terrorism.
Domestic terrorism is an act of terrorism which is committed by a citizen of the country in which the attack takes place. Note the wording of that definition.
You cannot explain “domestic terrorism” without including “terrorism”. Quite frankly, there should not be two different definitions, as there should not be multiple terms to define what is expressly terrorism.
By allowing multiple terms and definitions to come into play, it has reached a point where people can no longer agree on what is and what is not terrorism. This is particularly poignant when looking at the opinions of the topic by two people who under normal circumstances have very similar viewpoints.
Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and current Republican presidential contender, said on CNN’s State of the Union when speaking about the alleged gunman:
“What he did is domestic terrorism, and what he did is absolutely abominable”
Now one could (and should) rip the former governor to shreds for the incendiary and blatantly false things he said later in that same interview. But the fact is that he called the murder of three people “domestic terrorism”. Considering that he would like all Planned Parenthood clinics to be shuttered, that says a lot about what he considers an act of terror.
On the other side of this coin is Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee.
On ABC’s This Week, the congressman pointed to the mental health of the alleged shooter:
“It’s a tragedy. It’s, I think, a mental health crisis…I don’t think it would fall under quite the definition of domestic terrorism, although I’ll leave that to the Justice Department to make that determination.”
Now usually, Rep. McCaul and Huckabee would be of the same mind when it came to political mindset. However, it seems that the head of the congressional committee on Homeland Security does not seem to know what terrorism is, either.
It is simple; mass murder carried out for political reasons is terrorism. It does not matter if it is in Colorado or Paris or Nigeria or Iraq.
And if you are in agreement with Rep. McCaul about the alleged gunman’s mental state, remember that he outright said, “No more baby parts” when police questioned his motives. This was not a random attack which killed three random people.
This was a hostile shooting carried out to harm people who dared use their rights to safe and legal healthcare for whatever reason they happened to be there. That is terrorism, plain and simple.
However, there is another reason why people are hesitant to label this an act of terrorism, and that reason is almost more dangerous than the continued politically and racially motivated acts of violence we see all across the country.
The fact is that because the alleged shooter is white, he is being defended.
You may recall last June when Dylann Roof killed nine people at the Charleston AME Church. President Obama immediately labeled the massacre an act of terror.
However, the mainstream media, GOP leaders, and even the FBI would not use the word “terrorist” or “terrorism” to describe Roof or his actions.
FBI Director James Comey stated at the time:
“Terrorism is an act done or threatened to in order to try to influence a public body or the citizenry, so it’s more of a political act and then, again, based on what I know so far, I don’t see it as a political act.”
This, of course, is in blatant disregard to Roof’s admission that the attack was racially motivated. If a Muslim shot up a Catholic church, it would be terrorism. Apparently if a white man shoots up a black church, it isn’t.
Who is called a terrorist is so blatantly based on racist and xenophobic attitudes that a study led by University of Illinois communications professor Travis Dixon found that while, according to the FBI, about six percent of domestic terrorism suspects were Muslim, a whopping 81 percent of the domestic terrorism suspects described on national cable and network TV news programs were Muslim.
Regardless of who commits the act or what the mainstream media or politicians want to call it, terrorism should be outed as terrorism.
For years, America has fought a phony “War on Terror” without knowing or accepting that terrorism happens in our own backyard, and by people who may have turned out to be your neighbors.
It is time to stop segmenting terrorism by where it happens, who it affects, and who perpetrates it. It is time to step up and call terrorism what it is: terrorism, plain and simple.
Cover Photo Credit: Jagz Mario/Flickr (CC by-SA 2.0)
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Is Bumble Really More Empowering For Women Than Tinder?
Finding true love just got easier due to the latest trend of dating apps available on smart phones.
Users are literally finger tips away from connecting with the right person, but who will make the first move?
There is a broad range of dating app, such as OK Cupid and Tinder, but the app that caught my attention was Bumble, often referred to by many as the “feminist app.”
It works just like any other dating app, where users set up a profile of themselves and swipe right if they have an interest in someone.
But here’s the catch, women make the first move.
Men and women both make their own connections, but once a connection is made, women only have a span of 24 hours to initiate a conversation before the connection disappears.
Then men only have 24 hours to respond to that first move by the woman.
But is the ability to make the first move more empowering for women?
For many yes, women have the control in this scenario, making men wait by the phone for the first response.
It is a total inversion of the typical dating app experience in that way.
Women at a Bumble event in Melbourne, Australia. Photo Credit: Bumble/ Facebook
Women have men wrapped around their fingers waiting for that first text message.
Dating is not easy and having the courage to be the first one to reach out to a possible connection can boost the confidence of many women.
Bumble changes the stereotypical role of waiting three days for the guy to call, pushing for women to take action within a 24 hour time frame.
For others, being the first to say “Hello” is easier said than done.
For those too shy to make the first move then have a limited time frame before the connection is lost.
There is pressure to initiate the conversation, which for many can feel more disappointing than empowering.
Some simply have no idea what to say, which happens sometimes, and that should be okay.
Everyone has different experiences with dating apps, both good and bad, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Many women have reported good feedback from using Bumble and have had good conversations with their connections from going on dates to just establishing friendships.
That is the beauty of dating apps you have control to choose the person you want to have a connection with, and Bumble offers a different perspective on who makes the first move.
There is no instruction manual or rule book to follow when it comes to finding love, and everyone is entitled to go about that journey the way they choose.
So is Bumble more empowering for women than Tinder?
It certainly has the potential to be.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Bumble/ Facebook
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