Crip Camp Star and Disability Activist Judy Heumann Dies

For a great, inspiring documentary, watch Crip Camp, a movie about a summer camp for children with disabilities that includes original footage taken at the camp decades ago. Judy Heumann, who attended Camp Jened from the time she was 8 and was a counselor at the time of the original film footage, quickly emerged as the documentary's star. Ms. Heumann has died unexpectedly at the age of 75.

Ms. Heumann contracted polio as a child. From not being able to find a job as a teacher because her "wheel chair was a fire hazard" to becoming an assistant secretary of education under Bill Clinton, she was a pillar for breaking down the hierarchy imposed on people with disabilities. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/04/1161169017/disability-activist-judy-heumann-dead-75

Diversity in Food Toys Expand Children's Knowledge and Interests

Gone are the days when parents could only find play food for children from the dominant culture eating habits of the United States. 

Parents across North America are eagerly buying their children food toys that reflect their own increasingly global tastes and evolving dining habits. Because children are growing up in a world that is more connected, toy manufacturers are taking notice that children are being exposed to a more diverse array of food.

These toys have made their children more interested in trying new foods and learning about their cultural significance. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/03/dining/food-toys.html

Fisk University debuts as first HBCU team in NCAA gymnastics

In the Super 16 Gymnastics meet in Las Vegas in January, Fisk University became the first Historically Black College and University team to compete in NCAA gymnastics.

Facing North Carolina, Southern Utah and Washington at the Super 16 event in Las Vegas, the Bulldogs made their eagerly awaited debut just 14 months after the school initially announced the formation of the team.

Morgan Price, the Bulldogs' five-star recruit who had initially committed to Arkansas before switching to Fisk, was the team's strongest performer on the day.

https://www.espn.com/olympics/gymnastics/story/_/id/35392354/fisk-university-debuts-first-hbcu-team-ncaa-gymnastics

Republican Thinks Children Dying from Abuse Could Be Beneficial

An Alaska lawmaker has been censured after asking whether fatal child abuse could actually serve as a "benefit to society".

Representative David Eastman asked the experts how they would respond to what he said was an argument that "in the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it's not good for the child, but it's actually a benefit to society because there aren't needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of that child's life?"

Farther and farther out these hierarchy supporters have to go in order to stay on the seesaw. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64726727

Transgender Dignity is Everyone's Dignity

In his OpEd in the New York Times, Jamelle Bouie states that in Republican-led states, conservative lawmakers have passed or introduced many laws that would give religious exemptions for discrimination against transgender people, prohibit the use of bathrooms consistent with their gender identity and limit the access to gender-affirming care. 

"To deny equal respect and dignity to any part of the citizenry is to place the entire country on the road to tiered citizenship and limited rights, to liberty for some and hierarchy for the rest. "

"Put plainly, the attack on the dignity of transgender Americans is an attack on the dignity of all Americans. And like the battles for abortion rights and bodily autonomy, the stakes of the fight for the rights and dignity of transgender people are high for all of us. There is no world in which their freedom is suppressed and yours is sustained."

Mr. Bouie states again what we have stated for decades. Every individual hierarchy is interrelated with all others. When we use the common language of hierarchies, new alliances will emerge and we will transcend our differences. We are all in this together. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/opinion/trump-desantis-transgender-rights.html

This is not 1963. It's 2023. Fighting the Republican Agenda in Florida

Florida's Black leaders and national civil rights activists vow to ignite voter energy and unleash a grassroots movement to remind people that "this is not 1963. It's 2023."

In Florida, protesters marched to the Florida Capitol for the second rally in three weeks to oppose what they say is Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “assault” on Black history. Florida's battle over the future of education is taking shape as a war over the future of civil rights in America.

On one side is DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature — with coaching from Christopher Rufo of the conservative Manhattan Institute. They vow to move the nation with “a new conservative counter-revolution.” Their goal: ending what they say is a “neo-Marxist” focus on “wokeness” in education, corporate America and government that discriminates against individuals.

On the other side are people working against the hierarchical agenda of the Republican party. Their goal: halting what they see as the effort to reverse the gains of the civil rights era, particularly as it relates to education and voting — which they have long viewed as the two pillars of a multiracial democracy.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/02/18/face-desantis-anti-woke-rhetoric-black-leaders-go-back-60s/

Racism Doesn't Pay Off for Dilbert Creater

Now the distributor of the comic strip "Dilbert" has joined many newspapers in dropping the comic strip. This comes after creator Scott Adams made the racist and white supremist comment that described people who are Black as part of a "hate group" that white people should "get away" from. He stated on his that white people should stop "trying to help Black America."

The Andrews McMeel Universal distributors announced it is cutting ties with Adams because of incompatible "vision and principles." Though stating that they value free speech, they refuse to support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate. 

Clueless Adams stated on Twitter, "Dilbert has been cancelled from all newspapers, websites, calendars, and books because I gave some advice everyone agrees with."

In hierarchies, it is common from top groups to project their own perspectives on other groups, in this case a hateful white male calling Blacks hateful. Adams appears to see Blacks as "other" and separate from the rights and privileges offered to and controlled by the higher groups in our hierarchies, who can deem where resources go. People on the top see lower groups as "charity" that they have an option to "help" or not. People on top also falsely think that people below support their actions and views, and if they don't, something is wrong with lower people, not the opposite. 

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/3875636-dilbert-distributor-severs-relationship-with-creator-scott-adams-over-race-comments/