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President's Column
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MONTHLY PROGRAM
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
7:00 PM
Meeting location:
First Baptist Church, 19
West Main Street, Moorestown, NJ
The church is across from TD Bank; please use
the side entrance of the church, nearest to Carl's Shoes.
Please park in the municipal lot behind the
shoestore and the shopping center.
Program
Topic/Speaker:
Film Screening: MissRepresentation
Come join us in a screening of the documentary film MissRepresentation, produced by writer, director, actress, and activist Jennifer Siebel Newsom. It will both enrage and inspire you! The film was premiered on the OprahWinfreyNetwork in October of 2011 and is a central tool in Ms. Newsom's nationwide call-to-action campaign. Her web-based campaign (www.missrepresentation.org) aims to expose how mainstream media contributes to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and leadership. Our nation ranks 90th in the world in female legislative membership! Women hold only 3% of the top executive positions in the media industry! 65% of women have some form of eating disorder! Why? How does happen?
The film uses interviews with teenagers, revealing how our young women are viewed through the media's restricted, distorted lens -- defining women's value in terms of youth, beauty, and sexuality. Celebrities and experts including Rachel Maddow, Nancy Pelosi, Condoleeza Rice, Gloria Steinem, Katie Couric, and Rosario Dawson also provide startling facts and valuable discussion. You will leave "shaken and armed with new perspective" about the challenge ahead for getting more women into leadership roles.
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Meetings include speaker, refreshments,
announcments and letter-writing activity.
Meetings open to members and nonmembers.
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE by Jessica Van Liere, President
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We had a very successful Conversation on Race in America panel discussion on May 5, 2012. The panelists and attendee comments gave us a lot to think about. The Chapter is incredibly grateful for the work of Judy Buckman, Vice President of Administration, for her time invested in putting this event together, as well as the other members who assisted at the event, donated food and attended. We look forward to our next action to combat racism and welcome your thoughts on what should be done. Here are my closing remarks from the event:
Thank you to our distinguished panel for sharing your thoughts today. Combating racism is one of the six main goals of the National Organization for Women, so we are pleased to co-sponsor this event with the Southern Burlington County NAACP. Our collaboration is significant and so important. Despite the best efforts of many activists, we have this ugly history of racism within the women's movement and sexism within the Civil Rights movement. With both issues still far from finished we are past due to set an example amongst ourselves and act as a coalition.
Like everyone, I come to the issue of racism with my own personal experiences both academic and social. I am disappointed that NJ has yet to elect a Governor of color and lags in electing local and state level officials of color. When I meet with clients at my own work place and look at the public faces of our most powerful corporations in NJ, the lack of diversity is consistent. Without all of the stakeholders at the table, we deprive ourselves of leadership and innovation that shortchanges our economic security.
Our communities suffer from the fact that the Philadelphia metropolitan area is one of the 10 most segregated in the United States. How can we raise children with a world view of respect and responsibility when they are isolated to their own race and often their own ethnicity? I grew up with neighbors from Saudi Arabia, Jamaica and Korea. It was a good start to an understanding that we are citizens of the world.
We just concluded Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, so I look at race based violence with the wisdom carved out by the feminist movement in their efforts to combat sexual and domestic violence. Violence is never the victim or survivor's fault. I was horrified when I saw Geraldo Rivera speaking on Fox News as a voice of authority on race based violence. I only watch Fox News for research. He said, "I am urging the parents of black and latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as George Zimmerman was." This kind of thinking, victim blaming, deprives so many victims of justice and it gives the aggressors all of the power. It enforces a culture of fear. Black friends of mine look at the Trayvon Martin murder and are so afraid for their young son's safety as he grows up, despite the fact that he has a safe home and all of the opportunities for a successful life. How do women and people of color thrive in an environment where the enemy could be anyone, at anytime?
George Zimmerman was a neighborhood watchman, responsible for protecting the safety of everyone. This aspect of the incident is especially emotional for me. After being in a biracial relationship for 3 years, I lived the realities of the difference in treatment of white people and people of color by police and security. The sight of police, for myself and white friends is something to be aware of, but there is a confidence that police are there to protect us. For my boyfriend and friends of color, this was a sign of danger, a trigger to tense up and be afraid. For myself and my white friends, we never thought twice when showing our driver's licenses as ID to get into bars in Philadelphia. My boyfriend would always show his passport, because he thought it was less likely to be questioned since it takes more effort to obtain or falsify than a driver's license. I couldn't believe that anyone would have to go to that length in such a casual situation when everyone is off the clock and relaxing from the work week.
Being brown skinned in a post 9-11 world was always a complication when we traveled together. I learned quickly that TSA treated him differently if we approached standing beside each other so that they could see we were together. Lagging one behind the other resulted in second checks of carry ons before boarding the plane, extra time getting patted down, longer conversations with customs officers.
I struggled with knowing that my boyfriend, despite being highly educated, successful in his career and an upstanding citizen, had a legitimate fear of being unlawfully detained in inquiries about terrorism. Post 9-11 laws empower just this strategy. Wire tapping and CIA surveillance of all forms of civilian communication, empowering police to shoot first and ask questions later -- these seem like reasonable approaches to terrorism unless you have brown skin or any other characteristic that might put fear into someone with a racist motive, authority and a weapon.
The more that we share these experiences, the closer we get to creating an environment of affirmation for difference and zero tolerance for racism. For better or worse, we are in this together. If your neighbor or your colleague or someone on the news is not free, then you're not free. At South Jersey NOW-Alice Paul Chapter, we are continuing the conversation on race. This year we hosted Reverend Jayne Oasin for a talk called Racism & Classism, The Pernicious Duo, as well as Father Michael Doyle of Sacred Heart Church in Camden, who discussed segregation, race based violence and the environmental racism that is put upon citizens of Camden. We hope that you will join us and the NAACP in the future as we grow this voice for change and further our activism on behalf of equality for all.
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HOW CAN I MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH SOUTH JERSEY NOW TODAY?
BECOME A MEMBER!
See membership forms link at left, sliding scale available.
MAKE A DONATION!
To donate via mail, please send a check made payable to:
SJ NOW-Alice Paul Chapter, PO Box 2801, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
To donate via PayPal, click here:
VOLUNTEER TO ESCORT at a local women's center!
Contact the chapter email or call the chapter phone at 856-778-8320.
CHECK OUT THE CALENDAR OF EVENTS!
See link at left.
SHOP ONLINE WITH THE IGIVE.COM shopping window!
Support SJ NOW by purchasing items you normally buy online.
For more details on how to become an iGive.com user, see below.
IGIVE.COM
Do you love to shop on the internet? Here's how you can help the chapter every time you buy online:
Use our chapter joinlink to
sign up for iGive.com. SJ NOW Join Link
Then download the iGive.com
shopping window Shopping
Window Download and percentages of your
purchases will automatically go to the chapter every time you shop
online! No need to login to a website or
fuss around with passwords. The shopping window will automatically pop up
when you enter an online store
and your purchases will be recorded! Barnes & Noble,
LandsEnd and 1800Flowers, are just a few examples
of the participating online stores. See a list of the many online
participating stores here: Merchant List
Note, you must register with
iGive.com first for the shopping window link above to work. To access the
shopping
window download through the iGive
website, first register, then click on the "shopping" link
in the left-hand column,
and then click on "shop through the iGive.com shopping window"
and you'll be directed to the download. iGive.com
is compatible with most browsers and operating systems.
WOMEN'S INFORMATION NETWORK OF NEW JERSEY (WIN-NJ)
The Women's Information Network of New Jersey (WIN-NJ) was made possible through a grant from the Women's Agenda
of New Jersey. WIN-NJ provides an online database of women's organizations within the state that deal with issues of
particular relevance to women's social, political, economic, educational, and legal advancement. This project was developed
to help promote and facilitate effective communication within the women's organizational community on these issues.
The database is accessible through API's website and provides links to each
organization. It is available in three formats:
by area of subject expertise, alphabetically as a .pdf file, and
alphabetically as an Excel spreadsheet that can be sorted
by various fields. Information provided for each organization includes,
where available, the organization's name, address,
phone, fax, e-mail, website, principal contact and title, and up to three
areas of subject expertise.
DIVORCE INFORMATION KITS FOR $10!
South Jersey NOW-Alice Paul Chapter's Divorce Information Kits are now
available at the reduced price of $10.00. If you, a
loved one or a friend are facing a potential divorce and need more
information about your rights and what to expect in the
process, then this kit will be extremely helpful. To order one today, please
call 856-552-6731 or you can purchase one at the
monthly program meeting.
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