(via definitelydope)
![thedailywhat:
This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: The family of a slain black teen is demanding to know why the white neighborhood watch captain who shot him is not behind bars.
On February 26th, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a Seminole State College student, shot and killed 17-year-old high school junior Trayvon Martin in the Orlando, Florida suburb of Sanford.
Martin, an African-American whose father and stepmother live in the predominantly white gated community of The Retreat at Twin Lakes, was walking home from a convenience store after purchasing a bag of Skittles, when he was confronted by Zimmerman.
The official police report says Zimmerman had earlier called to police to alert them of a “suspicious person in the area” and was told not to pursue. He complained that “They always get away,” before continuing his pursuit.
According to Zimmerman’s report, Martin, upon realizing that he was being followed, asked the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain what his problem was. At some point a scuffle ensued, and Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest with his 9mm handgun. He later told police he was acting in self-defense.
“He had a gun, and Trayvon had Skittles,” said Benjamin Crump, attorney for Martin’s family. “[The police] say they are still investigating. I’m not sure what there is to investigate.”
Martin’s family attempted to put pressure on investigators yesterday by gathering outside the Sandford Police Department to rally for Zimmerman’s arrest, but police officials refused to address the protesters.
Martin’s family filed a public records lawsuit to obtain a tape of the 911 call Zimmerman made prior to the shooting to ensure that all the facts are out in the open.
Last week, Sanford PD Chief Bill Lee said he didn’t think Zimmerman intended to shoot Martin, but said they would “present all the information” to the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office and let them decide if Zimmerman was defending himself.
WFTV has since uncovered Zimmerman’s criminal record, which includes a 2005 arrest for resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer. The case was ultimately dismissed.
[huffpo / wftv / photo: abcnews.]
What the hell is wrong with the world when this is okay?](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0qzuoPJCc1qzpwi0o1_1280.jpg)
This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: The family of a slain black teen is demanding to know why the white neighborhood watch captain who shot him is not behind bars.
On February 26th, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a Seminole State College student, shot and killed 17-year-old high school junior Trayvon Martin in the Orlando, Florida suburb of Sanford.
Martin, an African-American whose father and stepmother live in the predominantly white gated community of The Retreat at Twin Lakes, was walking home from a convenience store after purchasing a bag of Skittles, when he was confronted by Zimmerman.
The official police report says Zimmerman had earlier called to police to alert them of a “suspicious person in the area” and was told not to pursue. He complained that “They always get away,” before continuing his pursuit.
According to Zimmerman’s report, Martin, upon realizing that he was being followed, asked the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain what his problem was. At some point a scuffle ensued, and Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest with his 9mm handgun. He later told police he was acting in self-defense.
“He had a gun, and Trayvon had Skittles,” said Benjamin Crump, attorney for Martin’s family. “[The police] say they are still investigating. I’m not sure what there is to investigate.”
Martin’s family attempted to put pressure on investigators yesterday by gathering outside the Sandford Police Department to rally for Zimmerman’s arrest, but police officials refused to address the protesters.
Martin’s family filed a public records lawsuit to obtain a tape of the 911 call Zimmerman made prior to the shooting to ensure that all the facts are out in the open.
Last week, Sanford PD Chief Bill Lee said he didn’t think Zimmerman intended to shoot Martin, but said they would “present all the information” to the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office and let them decide if Zimmerman was defending himself.
WFTV has since uncovered Zimmerman’s criminal record, which includes a 2005 arrest for resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer. The case was ultimately dismissed.
What the hell is wrong with the world when this is okay?
![thedailywhat:
On Kony 2012: I honestly wanted to stay as far away as possible from KONY 2012, the latest fauxtivist fad sweeping the web (remember “change your Facebook profile pic to stop child abuse”?), but you clearly won’t stop sending me that damn video until I say something about it, so here goes:
Stop sending me that video.
The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.
Additionally, IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very bad thing, and should make you immediately pause and reflect on where the money you’re sending them is going.
By IC’s own admission, only 31% of all the funds they receive go toward actually helping anyone [pdf]. The rest go to line the pockets of the three people in charge of the organization, to pay for their travel expenses (over $1 million in the last year alone) and to fund their filmmaking business (also over a million) — which is quite an effective way to make more money, as clearly illustrated by the fact that so many can’t seem to stop forwarding their well-engineered emotional blackmail to everyone they’ve ever known.
And as far as what they do with that money:
The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.
Let’s not get our lines crossed: The Lord’s Resistance Army is bad news. And Joseph Kony is a very bad man, and needs to be stopped. But propping up Uganda’s decades-old dictatorship and its military arm, which has been accused by the UN of committing unspeakable atrocities and itself facilitated the recruitment of child soldiers, is not the way to go about it.
The United States is already plenty involved in helping rout Kony and his band of psycho sycophants. Kony is on the run, having been pushed out of Uganda, and it’s likely he will soon be caught, if he isn’t already dead. But killing Kony won’t fix anything, just as killing Osama bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. The LRA might collapse, but, as Foreign Affairs points out, it is “a relatively small player in all of this — as much a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence.”
Myopically placing the blame for all of central Africa’s woes on Kony — even as a starting point — will only imperil many more people than are already in danger.
Sending money to a nonprofit that wants to muck things up by dousing the flames with fuel is not helping. Want to help? Really want to help? Send your money to nonprofits that are putting more than 31% toward rebuilding the region’s medical and educational infrastructure, so that former child soldiers have something worth coming home to.
Here are just a few of those charities. They all have a sparkling four-star rating from Charity Navigator, and, more importantly, no interest in airdropping American troops armed to the teeth into the middle of a multi-nation tribal war to help one madman catch another.
The bottom line is, research your causes thoroughly. Don’t just forward a random video to a stranger because a mass murderer makes a five-year-old “sad.” Learn a little bit about the complexities of the region’s ongoing strife before advocating for direct military intervention.
There is no black and white in the world. And going about solving important problems like there is just serves to make all those equally troubling shades of gray invisible.
[kony2012.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0iyiw3Jv01qzpwi0o1_r1_1280.jpg)
On Kony 2012: I honestly wanted to stay as far away as possible from KONY 2012, the latest fauxtivist fad sweeping the web (remember “change your Facebook profile pic to stop child abuse”?), but you clearly won’t stop sending me that damn video until I say something about it, so here goes:
Stop sending me that video.
The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.
Additionally, IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very bad thing, and should make you immediately pause and reflect on where the money you’re sending them is going.
By IC’s own admission, only 31% of all the funds they receive go toward actually helping anyone [pdf]. The rest go to line the pockets of the three people in charge of the organization, to pay for their travel expenses (over $1 million in the last year alone) and to fund their filmmaking business (also over a million) — which is quite an effective way to make more money, as clearly illustrated by the fact that so many can’t seem to stop forwarding their well-engineered emotional blackmail to everyone they’ve ever known.
And as far as what they do with that money:
The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.
Let’s not get our lines crossed: The Lord’s Resistance Army is bad news. And Joseph Kony is a very bad man, and needs to be stopped. But propping up Uganda’s decades-old dictatorship and its military arm, which has been accused by the UN of committing unspeakable atrocities and itself facilitated the recruitment of child soldiers, is not the way to go about it.
The United States is already plenty involved in helping rout Kony and his band of psycho sycophants. Kony is on the run, having been pushed out of Uganda, and it’s likely he will soon be caught, if he isn’t already dead. But killing Kony won’t fix anything, just as killing Osama bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. The LRA might collapse, but, as Foreign Affairs points out, it is “a relatively small player in all of this — as much a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence.”
Myopically placing the blame for all of central Africa’s woes on Kony — even as a starting point — will only imperil many more people than are already in danger.
Sending money to a nonprofit that wants to muck things up by dousing the flames with fuel is not helping. Want to help? Really want to help? Send your money to nonprofits that are putting more than 31% toward rebuilding the region’s medical and educational infrastructure, so that former child soldiers have something worth coming home to.
Here are just a few of those charities. They all have a sparkling four-star rating from Charity Navigator, and, more importantly, no interest in airdropping American troops armed to the teeth into the middle of a multi-nation tribal war to help one madman catch another.
The bottom line is, research your causes thoroughly. Don’t just forward a random video to a stranger because a mass murderer makes a five-year-old “sad.” Learn a little bit about the complexities of the region’s ongoing strife before advocating for direct military intervention.
There is no black and white in the world. And going about solving important problems like there is just serves to make all those equally troubling shades of gray invisible.
[kony2012.]
