You’re Too Far Away

DIDJA HEAR THE NEWS

Last October she did release a report on a DNA analysis that was said to show a pure Native American ancestor appeared in her ancestry “in the range of six to 10 generations ago.” 

She appeared at the National Indian Women Honor luncheon a few months ago to support a Native Leader from Massachusetts, who was winning an award, and she got a standing ovation.

She has also been working on legislation with Rep. Deb Haaland (New Mexico), the first Native American woman to serve in Congress that seeks to address funding shortfalls in tribal lands.

Even her critics admit she’s addressed the issue, to an extent, well:

Julian Brave Noisecat, a Native American journalist and activist who has criticized Warren previously, has said: “Based on my conversations with tribal leaders and advocates, the consensus position is that she’s one of the strongest allies of Indian country in Congress. She has good relationships with tribes across the board. And I think that’s relevant.”

Mr. Noisecat also said the ancestry matter had become double-edged: “More than any other Democratic presidential candidate, Ms. Warren has caused the most upset among Native American communities, but has also probably done the most outreach and is more vocal on issues that effect tribal citizens than other presidential candidates.”

María Urbina, the national political director of the progressive group Indivisible, said she and other liberal leaders were encouraged by Ms. Warren’s decision to apologize. Going forward, Ms. Urbina said she expected liberal activists to take their cues from Native leaders on whether Ms. Warren had adequately addressed their concerns.

The Folio Society has announced a series of volumes paying tribute to the history of Marvel Comics, the inaugural volume was originally scheduled to feature an introduction from Art Spiegelman, the creator of Maus and the first person to ever win a Pulitzer Prize for a graphic novel.

Marvel is a division of Disney, and its chairman, Isaac ‘Ike’ Perlmutter, is a longtime personal friend of Donald Trump, donated to Trump’s campaign, and serves Trump as an “unofficial and influential advisor.” Spiegelman’s intro made reference to this fact, and tied the origin of Marvel with its thin-veiled allegories about fighting fascism, to the contemporary moment, comparing Trump to the golden age Marvel villain “Red Skull” and dubbing him “Orange Skull.”

In response, Disney/Marvel demanded that Spiegelman redact his essay, removing references to Trump. The corporation said that it was trying to be “apolitical…and is not allowing its publications to take a political stance.”

Spiegelman refused to make the change and instead severed ties with the project. His unredacted essay will appear this weekend in The Guardian.

I work in a non-restraint facility for special needs kids (21 and under) with extreme behavioral issues. I’m talking real violent stuff. Sixteen and twenty-one year old boys who can (and do) home-run swing desks at your head.

As a non-restraint facility, we are trained to respond to these outbursts in the most non-threatening, non-confrontational way possible, while still protecting both the bystanders and the person currently attacking us.

We are monitored every second of our shift to make sure the safety and dignity of our clients is maintained, especially–and just let me emphasize this–the safety and dignity of the person attempting to hurt us. Their right to be treated fairly and with empathy is not forfeit just because their brain chemistry fucked them up today.

We have to be calm, regardless.

We have to be gentle, regardless.

We can never respond with any kind of force, ever.

Those rules apply to all the staff, all the time, no matter what.

So when I hear bullshit about how somebody “reached for their waistband” or they were “resisting,” when I hear yet another police officer got off because the situation was “scary” or he “feared for his safety” or whatever the fuck, I lose my shit.

You wanna talk about how you were frightened for your safety, walking up to someone in the middle of a psychotic episode? Yeah, well, I’ve been there. Pretty regular–probably twice a week, at least–no gun, no taser, with guidelines that state I cannot even use my fucking thumb because that’s considered “grabbing” and therefore a “restraint.”

And you know what? I’ve walked away from every one of those. I haven’t died. I’ve never even been seriously injured. We defused the situation in ways that didn’t involving riddling the other participant with bullets and at the end of the day, everyone went home. Go fucking figure.

And yet–and fucking yet–I keep hearing “not all cops.”

“Not all cops” are bad. “Not all cops” shoot innocent people .3 seconds after rolling up on the scene. “Not all cops” are racist fuckbags, misusing power for a personal joyride. “Not all cops” rape people at gunpoint (and get off scott-fucking-free).

Yet, at my place of employment, somehow everyone is calm in a crisis. Somehow everyone responds to violence with non-violence. Somehow everyone is always able to act like a goddamn compassionate human-being in the middle of the worst kind of street fight–

but you’re telling me that cops, people paid to protect, can’t all do what I do?

You’re telling me that cops, trained to respond to crises, can’t all respond to the same crises, with the same skill, that I do?

And you’re telling me that cops have to stick together in the face of these “potentially false” accusations. That cops have to support each other, no matter what, because their job is dangerous or whatever. That yeah, some cops, but ~actually, sweetie, not all cops~

Fuck that noise. My job is dangerous, too. But you better believe that if anyone sees a member of our staff breaking regulation, their ass gets reported immediately. That person loses their clearances; they can no longer be hired in the field, anywhere. There’s no moving to another district. There’s no finding another location. We make it stop.

So until every cop is cleaning house, until every cop stops this strategically blind bullshit, until every cop refuses to stand by and watch the rampant abuse and corruption inherent in this system, until all the bad cops are weeded out and unemployable–