a piquant blend of cats, foxes, dolls, beautiful people and whatever else may tickle my fancy.
Vigilante Madness in Pearland…Not Just in Sanford, Not Just Trayvon Martin!
It was just another Tuesday evening in a normally quiet neighborhood in Pearland, Texas, where kids are often found playing with one another and driving go-carts.
A family had just returned from Galveston on a spring break excursion, when upon their return, all of a sudden the unthinkable happened.
“You don’t belong in this neighborhood!”
These are the words that Jules Moor, a 13-year old black child, says that Deanna Johnson, a middle-aged white female, said to him after Johnson slammed her 2011 Jeep Wrangler into his go-cart on Tuesday, March 13, 2012.
STRUCK BY VEHICLE - According to court documents obtained from Jules’ attorney, Sylvester Anderson, Jules went for a ride in his go-cart in his neighborhood with another 13-year old boy who had been spending spring break with the Moor family. A third minor boy, another friend of Jules’, rode a small bicycle behind the go-cart.
Jules saw two cars behind him while driving back home, so he decided to drive his go-cart completely off the road to his right onto the grassy edge of the neighborhood park to avoid being in the way of traffic.
It is then that Jules states that Johnson swung her vehicle across the south-bound lane of the road, ran over the curb onto the grass and deliberately and intentionally rammed her vehicle head-on into the go-cart.
According to Jules, Johnson got out of her vehicle and confronted the boys in a hostile and threatening manner yelling “Where do you live? Who are your parents?” while shaking her finger at the kids. Jules goes on to say, “With all due respect, Ma’am, I live down the street,” to which Johnson allegedly tells him that she didn’t care and that she was calling the police.
Jules called his mother and told her that Johnson had hit his go-cart and didn’t know why.
A MOTHER DISRESPECTED
“He thought he was going to die,” said Theresa Moor, mother of Jules. “All I could do was stop what I was doing, grab my keys and make my way to my child.”
As Theresa arrived, she saw that the go-cart had been damaged severely and learned from Jules that Johnson had accused the boys of not living in the neighborhood. As Theresa approached Johnson to find out what happened, Johnson put her palm up to her face in a dismissive manner, refused to talk, went back to her truck and rolled up the windows.
Frustrated at the way things were transpiring, Theresa contacted the police and several Brazoria County Sherriff’s deputies arrived.
According to Theresa, she overheard Johnson claim that she was trying to “detain” the boys because they looked like some kids that they had seen earlier riding bicycles onto the driveways of houses in the neighborhood.
EXTERNAL INJURIES, INTERNAL SCARS
Jules and the other 13-year old boy in the go-cart sustained back and neck injuries as a result of the wreck. The boys had collars placed on their necks, were placed on stretchers and taken by ambulance to the emergency room of Southeast Memorial Hermann Hospital. They were treated and released, but Jules has since been diagnosed with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and is seeing a therapist regularly.
According to Theresa, her son has been completely traumatized and has not been the same after the ordeal. He doesn’t wish to talk about the wreck.
“My son is not the same,” says Theresa. “He doesn’t want to play outside anymore or leave the house alone. I just don’t know why she did this to my child.”
DUE PROCESS
It is still unclear why Johnson decided to do what she did. Johnson never apologized for ramming her truck into the go-cart and jeopardizing the lives of the three children and according to witnesses, was seen laughing as she spoke with the Sheriff’s deputies.
Johnson was not arrested or drug-tested upon the admission of her actions. The Sheriff’s department Captain that came on the scene decided not to arrest Johnson upon consulting with the District Attorney.
“I don’t think this was handled properly,” says Anderson.
No shit it wasn’t “handled properly.”
this is all kinds of fucked up. Pearland is just outside of Houston & part of my family lives there (or used to, I think many of them might have moved away, but I digress). I was just reading how Pearland is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of Houston, too. smh
(via masteradept)
Annise Parker, known lesbian and the mayor of Houston, is facing political backlash from conservatives who were apparently under the impression that she was going to keep her mouth shut about matters such as marriage equality when she took office.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Parker recently participated in a nationwide call for the legalization of same-sex marriage, proclaimed Valentine’s Day to be Freedom to Marry Day, and has urged President Obama to “evolve” towards supporting marriage equality. This kind of “activist behavior” has triggered the backwards-gaydar sense that is standard-issue for all of your conservative, evangelical bigots.Pastor Steve Riggle of Grace Community Church, a mega-church in Houston, spent an hour ranting to his sizable congregation about Parker’s failure to uphold the Texas Constitution because she is advocating for something that the majority of Houstonians oppose (according to Riggle who cited a poll from 2005).“Respectfully, if you cannot uphold the Texas Constitution, then you should do the honorable thing and step down,” Riggle continued in his “sermon.”Also, because speaking out for marriage equality and balancing a budget are two mutually exclusive things, the Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill told the Chronicle that Parker really “needs to be in Houston doing her job balancing the budget,” rather than attending conferences on marriage equality with other mayors in Washington D.C.
Woodfill and other Houston conservatives like him have made it very clear that they think Annise Parker is deliberately violating the Texas Constitution by advocating to change it. But believe me, while the Texas Constitution might be somewhat of a joke, it does not include any sort of clause that would render advocating for its amendment to be unconstitutional. In fact, changing state constitutions is something of a hobby for man conservative anti-gay politicians who agitate for amendments to ban same-sex marriage, so it seems confusing that it would be unconstitutional for Parker to do the same thing in the name of equality.
In response to the all of the hullabaloo, Mayor Parker told the Huffington Post:
“Sometimes I sort of scratch my head. Okay, I’m an out lesbian. They know that. I’m in a long-term relationship. And yes, I want the ability to marry my spouse. And here I am, one of 90 mayors from around the country, and somehow it provoked this wave of hate mail. And the funny thing is that this initiative, it actually came from my mayoral colleagues in the big cities. This was Antonio Villaraigosa from Los Angeles. It was Mayor Bloomberg. It’s Mayor Menino in Boston. Nutter in Philadelphia. Emmanuel in Chicago.They had it worked out and then they invited me to join. This is not an initiative from the GLBT community. But because I’m a part of that, it’s like, somehow in people’s eyes down here, I’ve changed from my role as mayor of Houston into lesbian activist. Well, I’m the mayor of Houston first, but I’m still a lesbian. And I care.”
Mayor Parker is up for re-election in 2013, and it seems that in spite of her haters she will continue to advocate for change on both a state and federal level.
(via pretzlcoatl)
Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012
Whitney Houston Barbie
Yeah, I Wanna dance with Somebody … Photo / Foto Mr. Jacob Black
(via fuckyeahdollsofcolor)
… so this is my Mexican-American Literature professor
he’s gonna smuggle Latin@ books into Arizona over Spring Break.
Beyoncé Monument to be Built in Houston
International music superstar and Houston native Beyoncé Knowles could be coming back to town permanently. By permanently, we mean in a statue or monument form. There is a project in the works to construct something for Beyonce right here in Houston and, apparently, the city is behind it.
When it comes to Beyoncé, everyone’s thoughts are a little different. “Houstonian, strong woman, just awesome.” “Single lady.” “Music, dancing.” “I think she’s got a great body and she’s a good dancer.” “This little girl who used to go to my church.” “Sexy!” “She is the number 1 entertainer from Houston. She’s in the prime of her career, producer, actress; Houston is proud and she comes back to Houston often.” If these guys get their way, the singing, dancing, “bootylicious” diva could be right back here in Houston for good.
(via fuckyesbeyonce)
The only thing more infuriating than this clip is that there are people trying to rationalize it on my roommate’s Facebook wall, INCLUDING her high school English teacher. I would think that a fucking English teacher would be able to recognize loaded language (they use “ghetto” in the title of the video). They also focus on a mall in a poor area that I have been warned to stay away from from a very young age because of its high crime rate even though there are thriving malls in wealthier areas who also had midnight releases. I think what pisses me off the most is that people really think we’re so fucking ignorant to not pick up on this bullshit. Fuck that, fuck you. Don’t insult my intelligence, don’t whitesplain shit to me. I will fuck shit up. I will go Lima Heights on you!
Puppets of Color at the Houston Museum of Health & Medical Science, in their exhibit on Race.
I took this picture on my visit to the Race: Are We So Different? exhibit yesterday :D
Free Press Houston is a local paper. Guess what I think about their cover image for November?
Why does Anubis need a museum pass? Don’t these muhfuggahs know who he is!?
And I am SO ANNOYED. While I agree with almost all of the demands at the national level, most of the ones at a local level are targeted to a VERY specific audience: white people and hipsters. The first thing on the “randomly organized” list is “connecting and expanding bike trails”, and while I recognize that Houston is not by any means a bike-friendly city, is this really something relevant to the cause of overthrowing Kyriarchy? I mean I can see how it’s relevant to veganism and being free from the capitalist world of automobile ownership, but somehow to me it really comes off as a matter of convenience.
There has also been a lot of controversy the past few years in Houston over expanding our (very, very crappy and) limited public transportation system- specifically, the (relatively new- it was just built about 7 years ago) light rail (train system) that runs over a small section of downtown and the surrounding areas. It’s been successful, but people are upset because it gives poor (read: black folks) easier access to richer parts of the city. There have been proposals to expand it that have been met WAY TOO MUCH resistance from people, because the construction will be long and annoying and then poor people will be able to mingle with them. WHY ISN’T THIS ISSUE ON HERE?!? Because it mainly effects the poor people who have ALWAYS been poor and people of color.
What really pissed me off, though, was this: “Pressure Mayor Parker to direct chief of police to cease all small cannabis arrests and cease the searching for small amounts in traffic stops or in person. To follow the NYC commissioner’s precedent this week of no longer making arrests if marijuana in not in plain sight.”
The specification of cannabis makes it so fucking obvious to me that this is a white person’s movement. Studies have shown that marijuana is a drug used mainly by white people (though black people get arrested for it a disproportionate rate, naturally). They couldn’t give two shits about the drug war. They don’t give a fuck about the poor and people of color that get stopped by cops for no reason. They don’t give a fuck that there are higher prison sentences for crack than for coke, despite being the same drug historically used by different classes of people. In the comments section someone argues that decriminalizing marijuana will save the city money on drug tests and allow more people access to job. THEN WHY JUST MARIJUANA?? Are people who use other drugs less worthy of jobs?
I really am incredibly mad about this. I have been going back and forth about participating but I seriously doubt I will now, especially if arrests will be as random, frequent and violent as they have been in New York. I am not going to the fucking fodder so you have more bike trails to get high on. Fuck this.
white people: let me tell you the number 1 way to get into my pants.
WHEN YOU MEET ME
MAKE SURE
YOU ASK
WHERE ARE YOU FROM
AND WHEN I SAY, HOUSTON TEXAS,
YOU MAKE SURE TO SAY
NO REALLY I MEAN WHERE ARE YOU FROM
COS NOTHING MAKES THESE PANTIES DROP FASTER THAN BEING REMINDED HEY YOU’RE NOT WHITE
SlutWalk was this morning! Here is a super unflattering photo of me.
It was a really diverse group of people, which was awesome. We walked past another protest in front of the Chinese Consulate (Get China out of Vietnam), and they were super excited about and supportive of us. I even got a high-five from an old Asian dude! Next time I won’t wear Converse though, no matter how well they match my sign. My feet are pissed.
my little brother, y’all!
Houston:
Katy’s Prayer Room next door to Reba’s Liquor in a strip mall.
Oh, Texas! You are such a special, special place!
(PS: Please post a count of how many different CHURCHES you pass in the next five minutes!)
