As the 17th International conference on AIDS wraps up in Mexico City the news is mixed for women of color in the United States. The CDC recently reported the rates of HIV/AIDS infection in the U.S. are at least 40% higher than they thought. And the Black AIDS Institute reported that if the Black population in the U.S. was a separate country it would rank 16th in the world for HIV/AIDS infection.

Hearing all of this I start to ask myself how many of those unreported cases are women of color? About a third of women in the U.S. are women of color, while 83% of women reported to be infected with HIV/AIDS are women of color (1). In the United States, and around the world, women of color are particularly vulnerable to this disease, with higher rates of infection connected to lower rates of education and lower rates of economic stability. After infection, community and economic issues continue to play a role, as quality of life and survival rates go hand-in-hand with nutritious diets and low stress lifestyles. These are 'luxuries' denied many women of color before and after infection.

Women of color can help to educate ourselves, and others, about the effects of HIV/AIDS on our communities, as well as share information to keep ourselves safe and healthy. One organization doing just that is the New York-based Voice of Women; their website is filled with resources and information for women of color to help protect and improve our health, and to advocate for greater opportunities for our communities.

Do you know of more helpful resources leave a comment and let us know!

It's July, which means that every weekend this month someone, somewhere is getting
married. I know most of my travel plans this summer are organized around the date when friends and family could book the perfect venue.

But outside of these personal celebrations marriage is also popping up on more official political agendas. Earlier this month, a Smart Marriage Conference was organized in San Francisco by various groups in the "Marriage Education Movement." The conference, and other events like it, are supported by Federal programs such as the Healthy Marriage Initiative, which was given a budget of $150 million dollars in 2005.

On CNN's recent feature, State of the Dream: Black in America ,marriage was also a recurring theme. During one segment focusing on single mothers, Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College, was the only woman on a five person panel, and the only person to ask if the real crisis in Black and low income families might go beyond personal responsibility. Dr Malveaux was asking questions about how economics and policies create the current situation where women raising their children
alone continue to do so in poverty. And despite the fact that she was the also the only panelist who didn't get a rousing applause from the audience, she's definitely on to something. In the United States, about 26% percent of households with kids have just one parent, and 55% of those households live in poverty. In Sweden, with 21% single
parent households-but where there is much more support for parents to work, gain new skills, and continue their educations-only 5% of single parent households live in
poverty.

Fathers are important, but the real crisis for low income families is about much more than just dads. I'm looking forward to all of the celebrations I'm going to this summer, but I'm still holding out hope that governments, federal and local, won't make wedding planning the permanent replacement for policies to promote economic justice.

Pushed to the Alter: The Right Wing Roots of Marriage Promotion a report authored by Jean Hardisty, and co-published by WCRC is a great source of information on how marriage promotion became official and well funded government policy.

and for another take on the CNN program check out the Youth Speak South Shore blog

By April 8, 2008, food prices around the globe had doubled within a span of two months. Haiti was the tipping point.  The cost of rice, beans, and corn rose by 45% leading The New York Times to label staple foods in the Caribbean nation as “closely guarded treasures.”

UN and World Bank officials have blamed increased demand and climate change for the pandemic food shortages sweeping a growing list of nations in a frenzy of foot riots and destabilizing governments.  While officials called for increased food production and financial and food aid, we saw hungry people take to the streets in Haiti, Uzbekistan, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Bolivia, Thailand, El Salvador…  The list goes on.  

Scarcity is not the culprit.  In 2007 Anuradha Mittal and Frederic Mosseau reported that there is enough food to provide every single person in the world with at least 2,720 calories a day. That's more than the Atkins, SouthBeach and Zone diets probably allow.  And yet drastic increases in food prices have supermarkets rationing rice to prevent hoarding.

It’s clear this isn’t a story about bad harvest or empty shelves but a cautionary tale of what happens when abundance is withheld and wasted to serve the interests of a few.  “Free trade” policies have crippled our local economies and the livelihoods of millions around the world.

Earlier this month, when asked his opinion of the food crisis, a Wisconsin dairy farmer replied, “They finally figured it out after all these years of pushing globalization and genetically modified seeds.  Instead of feeding the world, we’ve created a food system that leaves more people hungry.  If they’d listened to farmers instead of corporations, they would’ve known this was going to happen.”[1]

At the age of twenty, being a mother of a three and five year-old was not easy. Being a single mom on welfare living in a cockroach-infested apartment was not living. I thought I needed to learn discipline, so I walked into the army recruitment office. I spent my 21st birthday in boot camp on a five-mile road march. Many a mom has gone through boot camp. I was no exception.

Today I work towards building a network of women, many of them mothers, who have served in the US military. We seek ways to tell the truth and speak for peace. This Mothers' Day is a time to remember the mothers serving in the military whose stories you're not likely to hear.

In 1987 I was activated and left for Honduras. Once you put on the uniform, you're a soldier and you do what is expected of you. You do your job and try not to think. You learn to shut your emotions off. When I returned I didn't talk with my sons about these life changes. You just come back, go to work, feed your kids.

In 1993 I went to drill sergeant school. Another eight weeks away from home. As a woman in the military, I had to eliminate showing any emotion or insecurity. It affected how I raised my sons. They knew what it was like to be in the military at very young ages. You lose emotions; you lose yourself and connections to others. They drove it out of me in boot camp and finished it off by sending me to Iraq. I don't feel like a very good mom or partner these days.

My depression can be severe. Some days I can get out of bed, some days I can't. Other times all I can do is cry. The military teaches you to accept the rules. When you have PTSD, the VA's evaluation process seems to be the biggest obstacle to get help. Most veterans just give up.

Women are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and don't know what is happening to them. They can't be around their kids; they can't control their anger or sadness and no one can get close to them. They're suffering from PTSD but they pretend they're all right because they don't want to look weak.

When I started to speak about my experience, my son, a former Marine, thought I was crazy. He is still afraid for me. He thinks someone is going to kill me if I keep talking. But as a mother and a grandmother of eight, I feel there is an obligation to clear the path for our children. My tour in Iraq taught me this lesson.

It broke my heart to watch 20-year-olds walk in from patrol with faces dirty from the dust and heat - looking as if they just came in off the playground - with pictures of their loved ones on their armbands and their weapons on their backs, talking about how they just graduated high school.

Mothers cry for their babies, here and in Iraq. Mothers are the casualties that are not counted. We are the wounded that go untreated. We are also the healers that can change anything. We protect life because we give it. Send a Prayer for the mothers and babies who have lost each other. This Mother's Day remember them, remember us. We need each other to heal. And for all mothers who feel helpless because they think they can't do anything to stop the war - if you knew the truth you would try.

SWAN (Service Women's Action Network) is a network of women veterans who have gathered to heal from the trauma of military service and war, to document our stories and to support our transformation from soldiers to peacemakers.

Eli PaintedCrow is a SWAN co-founder and a retired vet working for peace with the Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland, CA.

At this year's International Women's Day celebration, we set up a photo booth and asked people to answer the question, "What does speaking fierce mean to you?"  Here are the latest photos.  Check back next week for more.  See Part 1 and Part 2 of the Speak Fierce Photo Booth Project.

And for those of you who would like to join in on the conversation, What does speaking fierce mean to you?

photo credit, Adza - www.myspace.com/photobyadza

[This article was published on Commondreams.org on April 10, 2008]

On April 1, I got a press release in my inbox that caught my attention immediately. The subject read, "Breaking News: Marine Recruiting Station Leaving Berkeley: Agreement Reached with Landlord, City, and Protesters." I instantly sent it around to staff, noting the surprising development.

In early February, the Berkeley City Council came under fire by national right-wing groups for labeling the Marine Recruiting office in downtown Berkeley "uninvited and unwelcome intruders." There was a heated face-off that got national news attention on February 12 between peace groups led by Code Pink, and pro-war group Move America Forward.

Everyone in the office got so excited about these developments that we decided to write a piece about it. Until I did a search on the closing's media coverage, to find out that the entire press release was - April Fools! - a hoax put out by Code Pink. While yes, the media pushes us to do outrageous things just to get even a glimmer of attention, this was not a useful tactic to draw people in, nor to counter militarism in our communities.

When I found that article exposing the situation, I felt duped. We spent our organizational resources for a good portion of the day thinking about what implications closing the office would have for the peace movement. It's one thing to play a joke on the media, but not such a good idea to play a joke on your fellow peace organizers and supporters.

I called up one of their national organizers and we met in person to dialogue about it. With all the wars and disagreements within the peace movement, direct conversation couldn't be more crucial to building a stronger movement. First of all, it was really important that she was available to hear my concerns. That meant a lot that she was taking me seriously. It was also important that we had an opportunity to challenge assumptions, and build bridges to form a deeper alliance.

I learned that the tactic around this particular April Fools joke was to illustrate a positive vision for the future, and then to provide some action steps about how to make that vision a reality. The challenge I experienced was that I never received the email with those next steps, so I didn't see the full picture of their strategy. There are many miscommunications in the peace movement, certain voices get highlighted, others are left out, and cultural, race and class differences hold us back from having full understanding of each other's strategies. Modeling a complete vision of the future isn't just about the results of a recruitment office closing, but also has a lot to do with the process of how we get there. By creating space to ally with organizations doing racial and economic justice work, we can only be stronger as a stand for peace.

We also tackled some questions about the direction of the peace movement in a larger sense. What if the Marine Recruiters had decided to pack up shop and move down the road? Would young low-income women and men stop enlisting if there were no office on Shattuck Avenue? Those who enlist are pushed into the recruiting centers by lack of options due to the depressed economy and over-militarized budget priorities. Our conversation began to point to what does the most effective national counter-recruitment movement look like? What does it look like to be an effective ally organization? What tactics can we take up to get there?

What tactics do we have as a peace movement? Mass marches in the streets? Nonviolent direct action? Educational campaigns? Speaking tours? Legislative pressure on representatives? All of these tactics are being knitted together to do the best we can. I think we need to push ourselves to do better.

That's part of why I'm writing this. Not to shame Code Pink, not to say that we are right, and they are wrong, but to offer a rounded perspective from inside the peace movement. I'm glad that they played this prank on all of us, because it got me thinking deeper about where we are as a peace movement and where we are going. It opened up a valuable dialogue between our organizations that I know will lead to further strength as we learn some tough lessons and move forward.

Maryam Roberts is the Peace & Solidarity Program Director at the Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland, CA, www.coloredgirls.org.

At this year's International Women's Day celebration, we set up a photo booth and asked people to answer the question, "What does speaking fierce mean to you?"  Here are the latest photos.  Check back next week for more.  Click here to see last part 1 of the Speak Fierce Photo Booth Project.

And for those of you who would like to join in on the conversation, What does speaking fierce mean to you?

photo credit, Adza - www.myspace.com/photobyadza

This week was the 5-year mark of the occupation in Iraq. I remember that day in 2003. I was at an event at the First Congregational Church in Oakland, Van Jones and Arianna Huffington were speaking together. I remember as Van reported to the audience that Operation Shock and Awe was underway, that bombs and missiles were raining down on the people of Baghdad. It was silent in that sanctuary, as tears streamed down his cheeks and the audience joined with silent sobs of their own.

It's days like today that it's hard to take stock of all that we've worked for as a peace movement, as disjointed as we have been. There have been successes, and failures, and still here are, troops still in Iraq, and more issues to address.

Five years. I don't need to repeat all the numbers here of the human cost - how many Iraqis have been killed; how many U.S. soldiers are dead; wounded, wandering, how many families are missing their loved ones still overseas; how many families are caring for their veteran daughters and sons, wives and husbands as they recover together as a family, or as the veterans recover alone. I don't have to tell you about the countless young women and men who have joined the Armed Forces since the conflict began - knowing full well what they were going into - because they lacked opportunities at home for education, jobs, survival.

Numbers are just numbers, and lives are lives.

The picture may seem bleak, we might have moments of hopelessness, but there are strong hopeful voices emerging, and I'm not talking about Clinton or Obama.

I'm talking about the veteran women and men who are speaking out, who are courageously sharing their stories, their power, their visions for peace. Their voices, of all the voices, are the ones we need to be listening to. The Winter Soldier proceedings in Washington, D.C. were some of the most crucial and under-covered historical testimonies given on the most tragic military occupation of our lifetime. Women veterans' voices were covered on one panel on "Gender and Sexuality."

More and more women are serving, and over 182,000 women have served in Iraq & Afghanistan, where they are put into combat situations consistently. One third of all women in military experience sexual trauma, doubling the level of trauma they are subject to.

While the testimony was heart wrenching across the board, it's important that we hear their stories. It's important if we are going to find solutions and a way to support these young women and men directly.

We, as a peace movement, must find ways to address the needs of those most affected by the occupation. Among our citizenry, these are our veterans. More broadly, we must consider the Iraqi & Afghani people, and continue to work our hardest to get the troops home.

Originally published in the Mad As Hell Club on March 18, 2008 (www.madashellclub.net)

Right after the anti-war protest in Washington D.C. in fall of 2005, I went incognito to a Pro-Bush rally that was held on the concourse leading up to the Capitol building.

A Senator stepped up to the podium in front of a giant American flag decorated with quilted folk art.

"And now the Gold Star Families," he said, introducing thirty moms and dads in maroon t-shirts clutching family photos and folded flags. They looked like a sea of dark blood.

The Gold Star Family organization began in 1918 after Grace Seibold lost her son in World War I and she pledged to bring grieving parents together to support each other.

A man spoke of losing his son in Iraq. He talked about the devastation that had engulfed his family in the months following his son's death. As he wrapped up his speech he looked out over the 500 men and women and said, "We want to bring the troops home too, but we'll bring them home after we've won!" A cheer roared through the crowd like the glory of a 3-point shot from half court with two seconds on the clock.

And then a woman in her late forties with a Dorothy Hamill haircut and watery blue eyes approached the podium.

"I lost my oldest son last year in Iraq," she said, holding his smiling photo closer to her chest.

"My other son is over there now and I pray every day for his safe return."

She took a deep breath and looked out at the sea of sympathy and a warm smile washed over her.

"My youngest son is about to turn 17. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said to me: "Mom, all I want is for you to sign my waiver so I can enlist." And I told him, "You bet son."

She beamed with pride and the crowd went wild. Men raised their hands in praise and women whooped and hollered.

"Why?" I said quietly.

"Why?" I choked out remembering my mother signing my waiver at 17.

"Why?" I said now in a full voice forgetting that I was standing in the red sea.

I craned my neck above the crowd to make eye contact with her.

"Why ma'am?" I screamed, "Why would you sign your last son away?"

A man with mirrored sunglasses blocked my view and for a brief second I saw myself, an angry red-faced woman.

"Her son is fighting so you can do what you're doing right now!" the man with the sunglasses shouted.

I knew that wasn't true. I spoke freely because of the Bill of Rights. My rights were not threatened by a handful of radical Islamists with cell phone bombs.

"Why?" I screamed hoarsely.

"We gotta get her outta here." I heard someone say and saw a shiny badge flash.

"You're going to have to leave Ma'am," a deep voice said and I was briskly escorted from the rally.

As I sat on the steps of the Capitol, I felt a lot like the Iraqi Constitution: unresolved. I wondered why that woman would go through the challenge of raising three boys: the ill-fitting retainers, dirt clod fights, shoe shopping, lessons of please, thank you, body odor and opening doors and after all that, why she would sign her last son away?

I suppose if she doubted the war for one second, it would make her first son's death invalid, so she had to believe in what she is doing.

I tried to recall my mother signing my waiver. She was proud and thought it was a good move; we all did. Everything looked good on paper.

I thought of the boy, ideas bursting from his clear, taut body. Is a boy at 17 ready to fight a war? And if he is not ready, what must be imposed on his psyche to prepare him for battle? And what will this battle do to his flesh, to his spirit, to his dreams?

Sitting on the Capitol steps I see miles of monuments that represent millions of deaths and two hundred years of fighting. I think of each mother attached to each of those deaths, what did she feel as she pushed him out of her body, and then as he suited up and headed off to kindergarten and then to war? What happened to the dreams of the mother and the son?

Two and a half years later, I still wonder if the last son made it home and if it was as sweet as the mother had dreamed it.
---------------------------------------------------
If you're interested in helping to end the occupation and bring our troops home please check out:

www.ivaw.org - View video of Winter Soldier 2008 and see the stories of our returning soldiers and Marines.
www.bodyofwar.com - Check out this film and see their list of things to do.
www.servicewomen.org - Support women veterans
www.veteransforpeace.org - Join veterans from all wars to create peace

April Fitzsimmons welcomes your comments. You can email her at true2selph@aol.com

As we faced the 5-year anniversary of the war in Iraq, we decided to post our 10 Reasons Why Women Should Oppose the US 'War on Terrorism,' first published in 2004. 

1. War, no matter how high-tech, kills civilians.  Women and children become "collateral damage."

2. War and militarism expose women andg irls to rape and sexual violence; the culture of aggression encourages domestic violence against women.

3. Weapons of mass destruction, produced, used and sold by the US worldwide, poison the environment, causing miscarriages, birth defects and cancers.

4. Governments in Israel, Columbia and the Philippines are using the US "war on terror" as an excuse to strike out at political enemies, violating the human rights of women in war zones.

5. The "war on terror" is a cover for US economic, political and military domination, which increases women's poverty worldwide.

6. When Arab, Muslim, South Asian and immigrant men are locked up without cause and without charges, women shoulder the burden of sustaining their families and communities.

7. Women's human rights are endangered when civil liberties are trampled.

8. US war industries reap enormous profits, while programs that benefit women and girls - such as healthcare, education, welfare and childcare - face budget cuts.

9. Bush's war fuels racism worldwide, negatively impacting US women of color and women of the Third World.

10. The oppression of Afghan women was used to justify the "war on terror," but the Pentagon cannot liberate Afghan women - or any other women.

At this year's International Women's Day celebration, we set up a photo booth and asked people to answer the question, "What does speaking fierce mean to you?"  We'll post new photos every week, so check back in to see the latest photos.

And for those of you who would like to join in on the conversation, What does speaking fierce mean to you?

photo credit, Adza - www.myspace.com/photobyadza

The Pro-war/Anti-war showdown in Berkeley earlier this February gathered national media attention, but left a lot of voices out. Anti-war organizers supported Berkeley City Council's stance that, "If recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders." Patriotic military supporters from Move America Forward brought a clear message shaming peace groups like Codepink, and asserting that the language of the resolution does not support the troops during a time of war. It was the forces of good against the forces of evil. And both sides would point the finger, labeling the other as the evil.

As I hovered close to the line between the opposing groups, listening to the bantering and heckling along the lines, it was clear - there's no dialogue here. (Incidentally, hundreds of Berkeley Police in riot gear held that line together.) I saw a middle-aged white woman in her American flag jacket, holding a big American flag on a pole, heckling another middle-aged woman on the other side, saying, "Crazy ladeeee! Crazy lady!" The guitar-playing woman strummed and sang louder back into the other's face. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, was I back in high school? Almost - a peace rally crashed by the pro-war folks. A circus on both sides.

While all sides were busy yelling at each other, I ran into two friends in the crowd - two Marine veterans who had both served in Iraq. They were non-descript - no peace buttons, no patriotic gear. I knew they were both against the war, but didn't see them speaking for the pro-peace side. They were wandering in the middle zone along the double yellow line of the street, same as me. We stood in the street and talked for nearly an hour, sharing our disappointment with both sides.

While young low-income women and men, youth, and communities of color are certainly targeted by recruiters, these folks have a right to their own choice. It's our duty as a peace movement to make sure that those young people are well informed in their choice, not to make that choice for them.

And the most shocking realization? When my veteran friends shared, we're the ones who are affected by this whole thing in Iraq, and who cares what we think? They were right. There was no space for their voices at the Berkeley showdown. The peace movement gave them no space to have their own independent views that still supported the Marines, but the pro-war side didn't give them space to be against the war.

There's a "gray zone" not covered between the black and white of pro-war/anti-war. There are those whose lives have been altered forever, whose experience gives them a more nuanced way of seeing militarism and peace. Their culture is of the military, but their views are those of peace. There's a lot of wisdom from their experience, and it's crucial that the peace movement find a way to listen to, learn from, and understand those with military backgrounds. Veterans and military families have a lot to teach us. Their experience adds a richness to the dialogue. After all, they were there, and they are healing those scars. It's about more than just making an argument against war. It's about creating peace at home, not replicating the same wars and disagreements within the peace movement.

The challenge before us is to look at how to create a space within the peace movement for these voices to emerge. Is there a space we can carve out for dialogue? Probably not in the streets, but somewhere and someway that makes veterans visible.

With unemployment on the rise, stagnant wages, and people's homes and savings wiped out, safety nets are also disappearing. On Monday, February 5th the Bush administration requested a record $3.1 trillion budget for fiscal year 2009. Under the President's new plan, programs intended to help the neediest communities and families are being slashed even more while military and war spending increases.

While the poor are blamed for burdening the middle class with high taxes to subsidize social programs, the reality is domestic programs are being cut by an additional $2.4 billion in 2009. At the same time Bush has proposed a 7.5 percent increase in military and war related spending. Specifically, there's $515.4 billion in military spending for the upcoming year, up from $479.5 billion in fiscal year 2008 plus an additional $70 billion in war-related spending on top of the $102.4 billion the administration allocated for fiscal year 2008! If those numbers weren't dizzying enough for you, the Iraq war has cost $522 billion thus far.

How does this all breakdown? The military budget represents 59% of the entire federal budget while education represents 6% and health a mere 5% of spending.

With the US economy sinking further into a recession, the burden will fall the hardest on the poor. Will we hear the stories of the real people affected by the cuts in domestic programs? Will we see their faces or will they only be represented in anonymous statistical data that makes it easier for everyone to continue going on about their business.

Our out of control spending will contribute to deficits already record high. In addition, the Bush administration is pushing forward plans to make tax cuts permanent. Included in the 2009 budget request, the lowest 60 percent of households will receive only 12 percent of the windfall according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

This is the first budget plan over $3 trillion.

As this election year comes and goes the legacy of this administration will be felt for years to come. So after the tides have changed and there is new leadership in the White House we must continue to work and unravel the damage this administration leaves behind and not lose sight of the faces behind the numbers.

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Welcome to Speak Fierce!, WCRC's brand new politics & culture blog.  We've decided to join the blogging community and we hope that you will join us by offering your thoughts and opinions on issues that impact women of color.