Human Rights

Declarations of support for student fasters at OSU flood in as fast enters Day 4: National Farm Worker Ministry, T’ruah, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee send blistering statements to Wendy’s, OSU administration;

CIW welcomed back to Chicago on Return to Human Rights Tour! We begin with an update on the progress of the 19 courageous OSU student fasters, who today cross the halfway mark of their weeklong fast calling on the university to cut its contract with Wendy’s unless the fast food giant joins the Fair Food Program.

Just days after the Columbus police pepper-sprayed hundreds of protesters near the Statehouse who were rallying against Trump’s executive order on immigration, two Street Medics led a Health and Safety Workshop for protesters in a packed room at the Free Press office. Interest was intense in the workshop, organized by Columbus Citizens for Police Review (CCPR). Many workshop participants had also participated in the protest.  Below is a smattering of the wisdom from presenters Gabriel and Allison, who declined to have their last names used or to be photographed, since police have been known to target Street Medics.

Biggest Medical Issues.Over many years and many protests, Gabriel and Allison have found that the biggest medical issues are dehydration and sunstroke. Advice: Hydrate. Drink a lot of water beforehand, for days – hydrate well because cannot rehydrate quickly in the moment – no caffeine, no alcohol. You may need a liter of water per hour during a protest. Pepper spray and mace are exceedingly painful but rarely cause permanent harm (unless you are wearing contact lenses or have a medical condition such as asthma).

“We The People” in Ohio just had another nail pounded into the casket lid of our “presumed Democracy.” Our constitutional right to pass our own local laws in our communities is now all but disallowed. Over the past two years, we have witnessed that the judicial system has been turned against We The People as they politicize constitutionally-presumed precedents by flipping them in favor of moneyed interests. For two years in a row, the Supreme Court upheld the latest vaporization in the separation of powers by allowing our Secretary of State to cheat We The People. He does this by illegitimately instructing our boards of elections to nix our rights of initiative through refusing their path to the ballot.

On January 4th, the Senate voted to begin debate on a budget resolution which is widely seen as the first step on the road to repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The 51-48 vote was unsurprisingly along party lines with the exception of Rand Paul, who voted in the minority with the Democrats. Congressional Republicans are yet to offer any proposals for replacing Obamacare, and any eventual replacement would most likely involve scaling back Medicaid and further privatizing America’s healthcare.

January 20, 2017  7:30 pm -   Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park, Columbus, OH 43214

GIVE WHAT YOU FEEL, so everyone can attend. The recommended donation for this event is $20. 

Gird yourself for the coming struggle to preserve basic human rights and equal justice. The Kate Schulte Foundation presents Warriors for Justice in an inauguration day benefit for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the ACLU. Many of Columbus’s finest performing artists will help support the SPLC's efforts fighting anticipated assaults on equal rights by the federal government. Featuring the Jazz Poetry Ensemble, Mark Lomax II, Donna Mogavero, Warriors for Justice a Capella (Debra James Tucker, Vicki Saunders, Tia Harris-Roseboro), Miller-Kelton Redux, Paisha Thomas, the Columbus Liberation Music Orchestra, and more.    Rise Up And Resist – A Counter-Inaugural Event

Rise Up and Resist is the first of many Kidd Jordans Place events! We want these events to be accessible to people of all income levels. Door tickets will be be Give What You Feel with no minimum donation.

“We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” -- H. L. Mencken (Baltimore Sun 26 July 1920)

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." – Voltaire

“A nation can survive its fools - even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the galleys, heard in the very hall of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor — he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and wears their face and their garment, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation — he works secretly and unknown to undermine the pillars of a city — he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.” -- Cicero (42 B.C.)

Central Ohio residents have the opportunity to take direct action to safeguard our water, though we must act fast. The opportunity is through support of the Columbus Community Bill of Rights, the proposed city ordinance that affirms our inalienable rights to protect our community from the harmful effects of fracking and associated activities. Two factors necessitate prompt action: the March 2017 deadline to submit petition signatures demonstrating widespread support of the initiative; and the threat posed by the injection wells currently in our watershed area.

As the Holiday Season approaches this year, the family of Tyre King is anticipating a very rough time in their lives. “Tyre was one of the best parts of the holidays,” according to Dearrea King, Tyre’s maternal grandmother. “His birthday is December 7 so he was born right around the holidays. He was always such a joy to be around. He made it fun to prepare for the season because he was always excited about spending time with family and eating all that good food.”

Donald Trump has said so many inflammatory things this past year that it's hard to keep track of them all. Yet, as divisive as The Donald's public comments have been, it was the word he thought he was saying in private that raised the hackles of a local activist group. The now-famous Access Hollywood tape that emerged recently in which the phrase “grab them by the pussy” was uttered by the current Republican Presidential nominee some 11 years ago has brought American politics to a new low. But here in the epicenter of the most crucial of swing states, a litter of self-described pussies is having more fun with the whole thing than a kitten with a ball of string.

Attached is the report from the September 2016 Pre-Election Citizens Grassroots Congress.