Feature image via shutterstock.com
French Court Says Bye, Bye to Burkini Bans
Authorities in 15 French towns had banned burkinis, full-body wetsuits worn by Muslim women, citing public concerns in the wake of terrorist attacks in the country. However a French court reversed those bans today saying the mayors who enacted them did not have the proper authority to do so.
via The Guardian
Earlier this week, photographs emerged of four police confronting a woman at a Nice beach and forcing her to remove some of her clothing. The Guardian reports:
A witness to the scene, Mathilde Cousin, confirmed the incident. “The saddest thing was that people were shouting ‘go home’, some were applauding the police,” she said. “Her daughter was crying.”
Last week, Nice became the latest French resort to ban the burkini. Using language similar to the bans imposed earlier at other locations, the city barred clothing that “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks”.
Related read: A Guide for White People on the #BurkiniBan and Discussing Muslim Women
Law & Order
+ Purvi Patel could be released from jail as early as September as soon as they can schedule a re-sentencing hearing. She was initially sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide and felony neglect of a dependent but in July an Indiana appeals court vacated the feticide conviction.
+ The National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students at private universities are employees and have the right to organize and form unions.
+ Martin Blackwell, a Georgia man who poured boiling water over a sleeping gay couple, was sentenced to 40 years in prison. The jury convicted him of aggravated battery and aggravated assault. The couple Anthony Gooden and Marquez Tolbert suffered severe burns. Blackwell was dating Gooden’s mother at the time of the attack.
+ A federal judge ruled it was ok for a funeral home to terminate a transgender employee after she transitioned, citing the owner’s religious convictions.
+ Another white boy rapist gets off with only two years of probation because jail time simply would’ve “destroyed this kid’s life.”
+ Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is known for his anti-immigrant rhetoric and brutal policing tactics against Latinxs, may be facing fines or jail time for being in contempt of court.
Grab Bag
+ Five women vying for Senate seats in seven swing states could lead to a rise to Democratic power in the Senate.
+ The NYPD illegally monitored Muslims and political activity related to Islam according to an Office of the Inspector General for the New York Police Department report.
+ Who Is Ultimately Responsible For The Vicious Hack Targeting Leslie Jones?
+ The University of Chicago sent a letter to incoming freshman telling them they don’t provide “so-called ‘trigger warnings’” or “condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces.’”
+ Two Orlando hospitals will cover the medical bills of Pulse shooting victims. Orlando Health and Florida Hospital will absorb out-of-pocket medical expenses and will write off an estimated $5.5 million or more in care.
+ Police officer Gerry Realin, who helped remove the bodies after the Pulse shooting, is fighting the state of Florida to have his PTSD recognized for worker’s compensation purposes.
How many more trans men and women are going to be fired now? How many people are going to give into despair because they cannot even work and earn a living? We need freedom from religious tyranny in the U.S. and I hope we are delivered from it.
“Christian values” have been used to justify the genocide of indigenous Americans, enslave African-Americans, oppress women, Chinese-Americans, Mexican-Americans, LGBT Americans…
Seems to me the only thing un-American is “Christian values”.
Is it possible in regards to these college rapists, to like take all the local news articles and have them laying all over the campus? Then have the school make him go to sororities(accompanied by school officials or the law) and introduce himself as a rapist? Don’t neighborhoods have to make it clear that a sex offender lives there now? Like I am pretty sure I’ve seen fliers on lampposts in college that a sex offender lives in the area. Why not the same for college rapists?
I’m confused as to why there has more recently been an increased focus on supporting students who have experienced trauma in the K-12 setting, but the exact opposite appears to be happening in colleges. I work in public schools and a ton of trainings this past year have been offered on trauma-informed care for our students. It’s like once you’re considered an “adult” people lose all empathy for you. Or it’s just sexist and racist assholes in the university system who are incapable of considering existences other than their own…
If you’re a woman there’s no way in hell you can win.
Created by @LaSauvageJaune, translated by @Bitofkit.
I liked Feministing’s guide except for the fact that there are plenty of white, Muslim women out there who wear a hijab, abaya or other traditional covering. It seems a little off to operate under the assumption that they either don’t exist or don’t count when they’re just as visibly Muslim and, based on what I’ve observed, just as likely to experience Islamophobic harassment.
40% of the women who buy the burkini aren’t even Muslim according to the creator.
That too- I know that the burkini and similar modest swimsuit options are popular with both Christian and Orthodox Jewish women, but even looking at it as a purely Muslim product, the fact that the author of that Feministing piece seems either unaware or unprepared to acknowledge the (fairly large) number of white, Muslim women out there seems really odd. Particularly in the U.S., Germany and the U.K., I’ve seen white women in hijabs or other traditionally Muslim, modest dress pretty regularly. And this isn’t me trying to be all, “BUT WHAT ABOUT WHITE PEOPLE?!” so much as it is pointing out that in this particular case, pretty much anyone in a hijab or burkini or abaya is going to be targeted for harassment, regardless of skin color.
Yeah, I heard on NPR that her first buyers weren’t largely Muslim, they were women who were concerned about sun exposure.
And it seems that Judge Aaron Persky is doing everything possible to be recalled, this time in a case of domestic violence.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/stanford-sex-assault-judge-went-easy-on-another-student-athl?utm_term=.tt15zlq1Z#.olEO5A0P3