ꩇׁׅ݊ᨵׁׅᨵׁׅꪀׁׅᝯׁhׁׅ֮ꪱׁׅᥣׁׅ֪ժׁׅ

Stickers in Salem, Oregon in memory of Tyre Nichols and Manuel Teran aka Tortuguita.

Nichols was a 29-year-old man who died on January 10 of his injuries, 3 days after being viciously beaten by five Memphis cops following a traffic stop.

To catch everyone up. People that have already seen the footage are saying it's worse than George Floyd. Two officers were assaulting him after a traffic stop when three other officers came up and joined in. His face was unrecognizable and he had a broken neck by the end of it. Local businesses are being told to prepare and some have been buying hazard insurance. All 5 officers were immediately fired (not placed on paid leave, but fired) after reviewing the footage.

This is going to be BAD.

Obligatory picture to humanize him (again).

I just want people to mentally prepare for the amount of emotional labor it'll take for anyone to talk about what's in the body cam footage. I fully expect this to be horrifying.

Footage will be released 5pm CT.

Let me quote a translated line from the holy Quran for you:

"There is no forcefulness in religion."

There is no such thing as a forced religion. And Islam is not what these fiends make it out to be. It breaks my heart to see people associate Islam with them when they don't even hold to God's most treasured principle: be good to each other. Be good people. Be human.

And yet, here we are in this country. They want to force everything on us. Our beliefs, our religion, our thoughts, and even our feelings. They try to control everything about us. How inhumane of a system do you have to be to do that?

And when we protest, they silence us. They take away our internet, beat the voice out of us, and in some instances, literally kill us for crimes that we have never committed. How wrong is it that we ask to live?

Our hearts go out to Mahsa and her family, and the others who've lost their lives in the protests that have followed her unjust and evil murder at the hands of this regime. This regime, this system, is neither Islam nor is it Iran. And we are no longer staying silent.

What can you do? Be our voice. Spread awareness. This is not us, and this is not our religion. We may lose this battle yet again to bullets and blatant slaughter in the streets, but our war with this regime will never be over. Not until the day Iran is freed.

For the sake of Mahsa and everyone else who's died an unjust death at the hands of these murderers, we ask you humbly: don't let our voice die out. Don't let us be forgotten.

Sincerely, thank you, from a woman in Iran.

#Mahsa_Amini #MahsaAmini #IranProtests

Undoubtedly, being a Kurd in Tehran played a role in Mahsa’s eventual death. But, this is a reality all women in Iran experience. We don’t need to look far to find video footage of the morality police beating and forcing women into police vans, throwing women out on the street from a moving car, and being harassed by Hijabi women for their “improper hijab.” Those videos show just a tiny fraction of the hell women experience in Iran.

Mahsa being with her brother on the day of her arrest was not random happenstance. In Iran’s patriarchal society, women should bring a male relative, whether a father, husband, brother, or cousin, along with on their business to ward off the morality police and discourage any surly individuals in public. Young couples can’t be seen too close to each other in public or risk being beaten and arrested by the morality police. Relatives needed to have documents as proof of their claims to the police. Arresting women for lipsticks and nail polish was a reality many of us millennials in Iran remember vividly.

The threat of acid attacks for “bad hijab” is another nightmare women endure in Iran.

You can fight for a woman's right to wear a hijab and also fight for another woman's right to NOT wear one if she doesn't want to - and you'd still be fighting for the same thing, a woman's right to choose.

THE PEOPLE IN IRAN ARE BEGGING US TO SHARE THEIR PICS AND VIDS AND POST HER NAME!

Isn't that reason enough?

And do you know why they beg us for our attention?

BECAUSE IT'S MUCH HARDER FOR A GOVERNMENT TO KILL ITS CITIZENS WHILE THE WORLD IS WATCHING

Be their voice, say her name!

You really believe the Iranian government would cut access to social media if it didn't matter?

is one-thirds underwater and over 30 million people have been displaced, the largest amount since partition. Over 1000 people have died, hundreds of them children. Countless more are left without shelter, food, water, and healthcare. The climate disaster is real and achingly tragic, right in front of my eyes. It's swallowing my country up and I don't know when it will stop. Even when the flooding stops, its consequences won't be over. People have lost their homes, their loved ones, their livelihoods. Pakistan is doing its best which is not even close to enough, so donations are much needed.

Personally, I am not donating to any politically-affiliated flood relief funds, and given the political corruption in this country, I advise others against it. But there are good people, good charities and NGOs doing their best to mitigate the effects. They are on the ground (and in the water) delivering crucial aid to those that need it. It's important to note that at the time of writing, 1 USD = 220 PKR, which buys a lot more than you know, so every dollar really does count. Here is are some trustworthy organizations that I recommend, if you can contribute:

1. Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan

2. Doctors Without Borders Pakistan

3. Pakistan Red Crescent

Link: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/donate-to-pakistan-flood-relief?pc=CR_social&utm_source=ALL&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bcgfm_CR_pakistan-tw