In the President's Own Words

It has been said that a society should be judged by how it treats its weakest members, and prisoners certainly fall in to that category. Before I go much further let me make it clear that I’m not advocating that those who are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (whatever that is) get to play in meadows with unicorns and rainbows, but I also believe we should treat every human being with dignity and follow the rule of law in all cases. 

Prisoners in Guantánamo are so fed up with their situations that 100 of them are on a hunger strike! According to this document on Guantanamo:

• 86 detainees have been cleared for release since 2009. However, the US government refuses to allow them to return to their homes or otherwise release them. The most common theory on why that is: these detainees have been treated so badly they’ll certainly join the opposition, al-Qaeda, or somehow set out to harm us. Shouldn’t that be a lesson in itself on how we treat people?

• The US doesn’t have sufficient evidence to prosecute 46 prisoners, but those 46 are apparently too dangerous to release. How can we be certain enough to detain someone indefinitely, though, if we don’t have sufficient evidence to prosecute?

• Remember when Obama campaigned on closing Gitmo? Well, it appears he wasn’t incredibly serious about that: 532 prisoners were released by the Bush administration. 72 by the Obama administration. I understand there other powers and factors at work in that numbers game too. If only the President had the power to release prisoners and challenge the flawed system that put them there…

• Only 5% of the prisoners were even captured by American troops.

I’ll stop paraphrasing, but I highly recommend you read the whole thing. It’s an easy read.

Below is a small piece from a first hand account:

I could have been home years ago — no one seriously thinks I am a threat — but still I am here. Years ago the military said I was a “guard” for Osama bin Laden, but this was nonsense, like something out of the American movies I used to watch. They don’t even seem to believe it anymore. But they don’t seem to care how long I sit here, either.

I just hope that because of the pain we are suffering, the eyes of the world will once again look to Guantánamo before it is too late.

Again, I recommend you take the time to read the entire Op Ed.

Out of sign, out of mind. According to President Obama this is one of the reasons closing the prison at Guantánamo is “a hard case to make.” So let’s change that. Let’s put pressure on those in power to move on this ever important issue. Let’s pressure the media to report on the hunger strike and the apparently innocent people imprisoned there. Let’s get people talking about it. Our friends, our families. It has to start somewhere. Let us not continue to ignore the atrocities happening in our name. 

If you’re not convinced this is important simply because what is happening here is morally and ethically wrong, think about this: The 2012 NDAA (signed by Obama) allows for indefinite detention of anyone captured anywhere in the world without charge or trial. That could be you detained indefinitely without sufficient evidence to prosecute. Think that couldn’t possibly happen to an American citizen? Google Anwar al-Awlaki and/or Abdulrahman al-Awlaki. Both American citizens. Both killed by the CIA in targeted drone strikes in Yemen. No trial. No due process.

Indian Country

While driving through Indian Country a few weekends ago my heart began to weep. With tears streaming down my face I wept for the countless atrocities committed against the indigenous peoples of this place. As I wept I wondered how different the course of history might be had my ancestors & European predecessors dealt with Natives honestly and justly.

Strangely, I was also filled with gratitude and joy for the perseverance and spirit of Native Americans. If not for the strength of these people we may still believe that Europeans “saved” Natives from “savagery;” we may still think it acceptable that our history books do not mention the raping, pillaging, and genocide that happened in what many people refer to as the greatest country in the world. Because of the strength Native Americans have demonstrated we are beginning to learn the truth and to understand the horrendous reality of the European conquering of this land.

My message to Natives may not be perfect and is certainly lacking, but it is this: I recognize your journey has been blemished in more ways than one can count. I try every day to empathize with the trauma that endures still today. I stand in solidarity with you as you fight for rights, land, money, recognition, and numerous other things that are rightly yours. I also know that as much as I would like to I cannot right the wrongs of the past, and I alone cannot solve the lengthly list of broken treaties, promises, and systems that perpetuate unimaginable poverty, abuse, and continued trauma. But I also hope you recognize that many of us stand with you, wanting nothing more than to stand in partnership with you to rectify the wretched reality that has existed for far too long.

To those of us who live each and every day with white privilege I challenge you to take some time to evaluate the countless opportunities you enjoy. I challenge you to open your heart to the realities and impact of racism in our communities and our world. I ask to search your own heart for the closed doors or bigoted feelings it may harbor. I ask you to do these things not because I want you to feel shame, but because I know how completely your life will be changed by fully opening your heart, by unconditionally accepting people into your life. 

Finally, I challenge you to create authentic relationships with all the people of color in your life. I ask you to listen to their stories and hear them with your whole heart. I hope that by listening with your heart you will be able to begin to empathize with the realities of system racism in our nation. Lastly, I hope that you will begin to act to create the change our world so desperately needs. We need more people on the right side of history, more people who are brave enough to stand up even when it isn’t necessarily popular.

Full Transparency

Have you heard of Norwex? Just in case you haven’t here’s a little info. The company claims that it desires to “improve quality of life by radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning.” It sells said products through independent sales consultants. I was formerly an Independent Consultant with The Body Shop, and I was excited to learn about a company like Norwex not only for the income potential but also a product line I could get excited about!

I started exploring the possibility of becoming a sales consultant with Norwex, and one of those steps, for me, was to confirm the validity of their claims. I searched high and low for a list of ingredients used in their products and found no such list. I contacted Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE) after finding nothing on Norwex’s or WVE’s websites. WVE confirmed the lack of transparency on Norwex’s part, making it impossible for WVE, or anyone for that matter, to determine if Norwex’s products are truly as safe as they claim.

I then contacted Norwex via email to see if maybe, just maybe, there was a list of ingredients available somewhere beyond the grasp of the interwebs and its mighty search engines. This is the response I received:

Hi Kayla,

 Thank you for the email.

 Cleaning product manufacturers are not required to list ingredients except for the ones that are hazardous and those will be on the MSDS. If customers are allergic to certain ingredients you can email those to us and we will check with the manufacturer if they are in the product.

The ingredients for the skin care products are listed on the box of the product and also in the Product Manual.

Thank you,

 R---

**I removed the individual's name to be respectful as no title was included in the signature.

This frustrates me so, and so I started a petition on Change.org and decided to write this entry. I recognize that the law does not force full disclosure, but I truly believe that a company that claims to radically reduce the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning products should go above the expectations of regulation to provide peace of mind to its customers. I cannot be confident that the company is truly reducing chemicals in our lives if it is not fully transparent, and I can only assume that others feel the same way. There are too many cleaning product manufacturers that claim to have safe products that aren’t actually safe. Additionally, I am fearful that Norwex’s independent sales consultants are selling a product to customers that may not actually be as safe as they, consultants and customers alike, think. This is a terrible position to be in as an independent consultant. 

For these reasons I ask that you sign the petition to encourage Norwex to work toward a more transparent future. I hope to get at least 1,000 signatures, so please share far and wide.

Better Than This

This postcard from PostSecret made me reflect upon many of the organizations I have worked in or worked closely with, and sadly it can be so true.

Let’s develop a working definition of social justice before moving forward. The best I can do is to describe what a socially just society (or organization) looks like. It is one based on the principles of equality and solidarity. It understands and values human rights, and recognizes and protects the dignity of every human being.

Having become involved in many organizations that work toward social justice in recent years I’ve seen how messed up they can be. Or else perhaps I like to think that some organizations are more committed to social justice than they actually are, so I pass a harsher judgement? I’m not certain any more.

Anyway, after I shared the postcard on my Facebook page someone asked me to explain, so I will attempt to do that. One way to work toward social justice is to build power. Power, as defined by Social Justice Fund NW, is the capacity of a group of people to decide what they want and to act in an organized way to get it. Once that power is built it can be used to create systemic change, which can (and arguably should) include changing the unjust power relations that currently exist.

So, yucky organizations that claim to be “social justice” organizations but don’t practice what they preach. An example of one such organization, which will not be named, does not make decisions based on equality and does not protect the dignity of its employees. The leadership in said organization works to prevent employees from building power, which in turn prevents unjust power relations from being changed. When these things are happening internally it is difficult to believe that the organization is truly committed to creating change externally.

Social justice is a heavy subject, and certainly no organization or individual can flawlessly execute “social justice.” However, it does, as the postcard says, pain me to see how epically some organizations fail at having socially just internal policies.

It's racism and classism, stupid!

I have recently had conversations with people in my life about what money and class mean to them, and what an individual’s relationship to and perception of money and class means for an individual’s spending habits, philanthropic giving, etc.. To say the responses have been varied would be a understatement. These conversations have me thinking about a very complex topic: economics. 

Disclaimer: Although I did achieve an “A” in both micro- and macroeconomics, I am fully aware that I have a limited understanding of the things I will discuss next and am no way an expert on the topic. Bear with me.

Back to economics. We all know that unemployment is “high” in comparison to, say, 15 years ago. I hope we all know that unemployment is always higher for minority groups. If you didn’t know that check this link. It turns out society and mainstream media don't really give a shit until the unemployment affects the “average white male.” Anyway, I digress. 

Econ. Lately we’ve been fed this fallacy that the rich are job creators, and if we tax them they will stop creating jobs. As it turns out our economic system is designed so that the only thing to create jobs is demand, and the rich don’t consume 60% more just because their incomes are 60% higher. Don't believe that? Ask Stephen King. If I were a business owner (rich or not) I wouldn’t hire because my taxes were cut; I would hire when demand reached a point that made an additional employee necessary to maintain a level of customer satisfaction that would ensure continued consumption of my good or service. The way to increase demand is to empower the middle class to consume, but consumption requires money. When wages are stagnant and inflation is anything but the middle class consumes at a slower rate. All of that to make a few points: 1) The rich are not job creators just because they have more money or pay a lower tax rate and 2) We as a society teach and are taught that we will be happy when we consume. This desire to consume (and be “happy”) is what keeps our economic system alive, creates jobs, creates an upper class and middle class, and so much more. 

We as humans are happy when we consume. The more that we consume the more jobs there are for the ‘middle class.’ When there are more jobs for the ‘middle class’ said class has more money. When the ‘middle class' has more money it desires to consume more.

Does consumption really make us happy? If not, how do we go about creating sustainable jobs? Hoarding money isn’t the answer, but buying a bunch of shit has never made me truly happy either. Philanthropic giving can only create so many jobs. We must be more than mice in a wheel, right?