George's - Writings

Dorothy Roberts’  KILLING THE BLACK BODY:    Race Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty  is a deep, challenging, excellent book, particularly for white men (and secondarily for white women).     For me it taps into the  denial  which I go into (thankfully less and less frequently over time) as a privileged white man, where racism, sexism and homo/lesbian/trans phobias don’t penetrate me deeply and I relax, seemingly oblivious to what others face in their daily lives. But the movement    to expand women’s reproductive options was marked by racism from its very inception in the early part of this century  (note: 20 th  century) .    The spread of contraception to American women hinged partly on its appeal to eugenicists bent on curtailing the birthrates of the “unfit” including Negroes.    For several decades, peaking in the 1970’s, government-sponsored family planning programs not only encouraged Black...

  Jessica Valenti approaches abortion and the much bigger issues of the current oppression of women and girls deeply in: “ Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win” . Valenti personalizes her own pregnancy stating: … I was twenty eight weeks pregnant, I felt ill – just a little off, really.   I was able to see my ob-gyn immediately, and within minutes of taking my blood pressure, which was sky high, she had me admitted to the hospital across the street.   Within three days my liver was failing.   A doctor would late tell me it was as if my health and body “fell off a cliff”.   Without the quick care I received, I would have had my daughter and likely wouldn’t be here either.  (p.144-5) Jessica Valenti has written: ABORTION EVERY DAY   (Substack)– , with research assistance, daily over recent years, sharing the worsening abortion related landscape in the U.S. in great depth.  She writes about hypocritical Republi...

  Fellow white man, I’m impatient!    We are not on the same path!    I do not want to be your “buddy”.    I am open to, and welcoming of “allyship”, however I’m very skeptical. Over five years ago we started working together.    I certainly was a “mixed bag” then.    One thing I had, though, was a drive towards serious systemic change.    Building that change required that I deepen my personal work.   I also needed to go well beyond the personal work (alone). Helping build the change necessitates: 1.     1.  Confronting other white men and welcoming their confronting of me, 2.     2.  Being deeply uncomfortable frequently, 3.     3.  Feeling like and often being an “outsider” in various spaces, 4.     4.    Listening deeply and being seriously curious, 5.     5.  Making mistakes and trying to minimize the harm that we and I ...

  THREE MAGNIFICENT DOCUMENTARIES: A Binding Truth – Jimmie transferred his senior year to an affluent Charlotte high school in 1965 - he was their first Black football star. That decision swept him into one of North Carolina's most volatile civil rights cases, played out at the explosive intersection of football and race. De watched that case unfold and wrote about it in his college essay application. Decades later, a shocking discovery reveals secrets buried in church records that would change their lives. Their story, rooted in the South, is also America’s story – one of slavery’s legacy and our current racial divide. It’s a story of healing and shows a way forward as Jimmie and De explore their binding truth.   ( https://www.hdkirkpatrickphd.com/) Israelism - Two young American Jews –  Simone Zimmerman  and  Eitan  - are raised to defend the state of Israel at all costs. Eitan joins the Israeli military. Simone supports Israel on ‘the other battle...

  I was a Clinic Escort at a Family Planning Associates Abortion Clinic in Chicago from June – September, 2022, when I moved to Richmond, California.     It took me until August, 2023 (after a variety of efforts)  to continue my Escort work, which is now for Planned Parenthood in Concord, California.   I work regular shifts, consistently doing the work week-after-week. For me, as a cis-hettish, white man, it is important that I’m in allyship.    I want to support the important work of girls, women and trans people.    I’m bothered that more men don’t volunteer!    Some of us are committed to coming to rallies.    We are reticent to dig deeply into personal work with other men.   We also don’t want to feel uncomfortable, and serious systemic change work is challenging. In Chicago, the front door, was on the street. We had protesters who, without our visible presence, would block the front door, while also gu...

  PLAN C is an Incredible, Extremely Horrifying Film!   Is is most tellingly a story of some Incredible Women.  They are taking on horrible people who are perpetrating a rapidly disintegrating world.   It is a nightmare of minimizing the value of women and girls, most particularly those who lack the resources to successfully fight back.   Dr. Daniel Grossman, Gilda Gonzales, Tracy Drog Trazos, + Host from Festival Plan C is also empowering, showing by example how a deep commitment – a lot of caring – cooperation and more can help fight back – and take on the oppression. Francine Coeytaux   https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francine_Coeytaux is an amazing, driven woman, strongly committed to helping other women, aware, but not intimidated by potential threats of extensive legal action or potential assault from “ pro-lifers” (totally sic/k). Coeytaux’s fellow – co-facilitators – at Plan C https://www.plancpills.org/ work extensively to ensur...

PLEASE - JOIN - MERJ - Sunday, March 12th - The Business of Birth Control Here's the show and tell link - to register to watch The Business of Birth Control -  March 9-12th Here's the  Zoom registration link  - to attend the Workshop  

T his church's clear message - was attacked anonymously and thankfully has been rebuilt.  We gathered Sunday in a positive affirmation of each other, not intimidated by the cowardly assault - one of what (unfortunately) is one of increasing numbers of assaults - attempting to stop our efforts. Where are we as a People? Will the recent Kansas election results be replicated nationally in November?  I don't know.  I want to be hopeful. I try to be "out" making my perspectives visible to others. Her Ex-Husband Is Suing a Clinic Over the Abortion She Had Four Years Ago Nearly four years after a woman ended an unwanted pregnancy with abortion pills obtained at a Phoenix clinic, she finds herself mired in an ongoing lawsuit over that decision. A judge allowed the woman’s ex-husband to establish an estate for the embryo, which had been aborted in its seventh week of development. The ex-husband filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the and its doctors in 2020. Experts said th...

  Yesterday (Saturday) Morning I was at a Chicago Abortion Clinic at 6:10 a.m. (early) for my first shift as a Clinic Escort.   A man was kneeling on the sidewalk, eyes closed, praying.  He had two (religious related) books and a large cross.   Though he was silent, and didn’t “do anything”, I immediately felt initial mild anger.  The massiveness of the issues - we face - seemed much more real to me! After a few minutes the shift coordinator and another woman who had trained us for our work arrived and gave a fellow newbie and me our bright pink vests.   Being visibly different and otherwise clearly apart from the protesters was important!  Initially mostly staff were arriving in their (largely) purple attire.   When a partner or friend dropped them off, they looked connected and calm, and they were happy to see us there, holding the door open for them and greeting them.   The women who had evident male partners looked very differen...