New Documentary 'Soul Food Junkies' Needs Your Support

Award-winning filmmaker Byron Hurt's upcoming project traces his journey to learn more about the African American cuisine known as soul food. Spurred by his father's love affair with soul food, which ultimately plays a part in his health troubles, Hurt explores the complexities of this beloved food tradition. With origins in West Africa and deep roots in the black south, soul food has a complex history and considerable impacts on the health of the black community today. Examining both the benefits and harms, Hurt is telling an important and timely story of cultural identity, food access, and eating choices. The documentary is near completion, but needs help from supporters to make it happen. You can find out more on the film's Kickstarter page and donate directly to this project, which is sure to become a vital part of the discussion on food justice and health in communities of color. We're ending the day as often as possible by celebrating love. We welcome your ideas for posts. Send suggestions to submissions@colorlines.com, and be sure to put "Celebrate Love" in the subject line. You can send links to videos, graphics, photos, quotes, whatever. Or just chime in to the comments below and we'll find you. Be sure to let us know you've got the rights to share any media you send. To see other Love posts visit our Celebrate Love page.

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Ex Philly Schools Chief Takes Heat for Unemployment Bid

Former Philly schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who was given a nearly $1-million buyout earlier this year, has applied for unemployment. The news comes as the school after reports that as school's chief, Ackerman had previously tried to prevent some district employees from collecting unemployment insurance. Ackerman was pushed out of her position earlier this year after several controversies surfaced: the district awarded a no-bid contract to a "minority firm," so-called "race wars" erupted at a South Philadelphia High School, and the district couldn't handle a whopping budget deficit that had accumulated on Ackerman's watch. On Tuesday School District spokesman Fernando Gallard confirmed that Ackerman wants to collect state unemployment benefits. "The former superintendent did apply for unemployment," Gallard told KYW Newsradio today. This comes after taxpayers funded a $905,000 buyout when she was shown the door in August. Ackerman was making nearly $350,000 a year when she was forced to leave her job, and she'll likely be eligible for $573 a week, the highest weekly benefit provided by the state. The news isn't going over well with former district employees who say that Ackerman made their lives more difficult after they lost their jobs with the district. "These people were really hurting, really needed it," Michael Lodise, the head of the school police officers' union told the local CBS news affiliate. Lodise fought for several months to get unemployment compensation - and eventually succeeded - for 120 school police officers laid off in June. "And here's a woman with almost a million dollars, and she wants unemployment besides. I just don't understand it," Lodise went on to say

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Nearly All Student Arrests in NYC Public Schools Target Black and Latino Males

New York City police officers arrested or ticketed an average of four students per day in the city's schools over a four-month period this summer and fall. Out of 63 arrests in that time period, all but four of them were black or Latino kids, Gotham Schools reports. The statistics released on Monday came under the terms of the Student Safety Act, a law the City Council passed last year to require transparency about arrests made by the New York Police Department in city schools.  Gotham Schools has more: A total of 63 arrests - one fifth of them for felonies - were made and 182 summonses issued in city schools over a span of 50 school days between July and September, according to the data, which the New York Civil Liberties Union published on its website. Most of the quarterly reporting period took place during the summer session, when enrollment is just 10 percent of the school-year total. Arrest totals are likely to be much higher when school is in session full time. More than a third of the students arrested -- 22 -- were charged with assault, and more than half of summonses issued were for disorderly conduct. Riding a bike on the sidewalk was the second most common reason cited when issuing a summons, which typically requires a student to take time off of school to appear in court. More than 80 percent of students arrested were male and 44 percent were younger than 16. All but four of the students arrested were black or Latino. "The data raise concerns about black students being disproportionally arrested in the city's schools," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union told Gotham Schools. The numbers don't come as a shock to those following the school-to-prison pipeline closely. Last year, 83 percent of suspensions were issued to black and Latino students, who make up about 70 percent of students in the city's schools.

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Majority of People Living With HIV in U.S. Aren't in Successful Treatment

Less than a third of people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are in successful enough treatment that they will remain healthy and reduce the likelihood of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners, according to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials believe they must dramatically boost that number in order to control the epidemic, which has ravaged black communities in particular and is still growing among black gay and bisexual men. The CDC released its latest update on the HIV/AIDS epidemic on Tuesday, in advance of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. This spring marked 30 years since the public health agency first reported on the condition that would later be identified as HIV infection. Roughly half of those living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. are black, as are roughly half of those who are newly infected each year. Reducing what's called a patient's "viral load" is a core part of HIV treatment. The more virus that's circulating in your blood, the weaker your immune system becomes and the more likely you are to develop a fatal illness. Treatment specialists believe a viral count under 550 copies of the virus per milliliter of blood is the magic number to stay healthy; go above that mark and you should start taking anti-retroviral drugs, they say. But CDC officials have also said that a viral load below 200 meaningfully reduces the risk of transmitting the virus to a sexual partner. Tuesday, the CDC reported that only 28 percent of the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV have viral counts that low. That news comes as a dampener to big, promising news earlier this year, when researchers found that successful treatment lowered the likelihood of transmitting HIV by a shocking 96 percent. Federal health officials also estimate that 20 percent of people with the virus remain unaware altogether of their status because they have not been tested. CDC has long pointed out that new infections are driven overwhelmingly by people who don't know they are HIV positive. Still, the findings released Tuesday suggest that many people who have been tested and have gotten into treatment aren't succeeding in lowering their viral loads. Moreover, there appears to be a racial disparity in who is and is not succeeding. A 2009-2010 study of adults with HIV in New York City, Los Angeles County, Philadelphia, Florida, Puerto Rico and 18 other jurisdictions found that 80 percent of white patients and 79 percent of Latino patients who received anti-retroviral therapy saw their viral levels fall below the 200 threshold. But only 70 percent of black patients who received treatment suppressed their viral counts. Jonathan Mermin, director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention, conceded Tuesday it "is not completely known" what causes that racial disparity. He pointed out that there are "a lot of challenges even among those prescribed ART" that could come into play. Black communities overall suffer higher rates of unemployment and poverty that block access to health care. Access to transportation, homophobia, stigma or even migration are other potential factors getting in the way of more successful treatment. Previous studies have also found that African Americans arrive in treatment late in the life of their HIV infection--which means, like any other health problem, it's far more difficult to treat successfully. "We know that anti-retroviral therapy is available and effective," said Janet Weinberg of Gay Men's Health Crisis. "However, we have to increase access to treatment and provide culturally competent education, training and counseling--especially in communities where there are higher rates of HIV." The CDC's concern about viral loads as a matter of HIV prevention, not just treatment, reflects a growing emphasis in public health on what's called biomedical prevention of the virus's spread. Researchers are exploring microbicides that could block transmission. Others are developing the use of anti-retroviral drug regimens for people who are negative, as a way to stop transmission from a positive sexual partners. And public health officials are increasingly focused on treatment of people who are positive as prevention. In May, a National Institutes of Health study of heterosexual couples found that people who begin HIV treatments while their immune systems remain relatively strong are 96 percent less likely to pass the virus along to partners. "This is a very important finding because it shows that treatment for HIV can prevent the spread of HIV to others," said CDC Director Thomas Frieden.

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Georgia Immigrant Couple Fights to Regain Custody of Kids

Ovidio and Domitina Mendez's lost their five children to foster care when the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services arrived at their home claimed the kids were malnourished. The couple, who are both undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, says they did everything the child welfare agency asked them to do to get their kids back. But three years later, the children are still in foster care with strangers. Why? Because they are undocumented immigrants who speak Spanish, according to advocates. In June, a juvenile court in Whitfield County, Georgia ruled to terminate the Mendez's parental rights. The children have been placed with a foster family that now wants to adopt them, according to a report by the Times Free Press. According to the family and to advocates in Georgia, the Mendez family are the victims of a biased child welfare system that denies undocumented and non-English speaking mothers and fathers their parental rights. A hearing to have their case re-opened has been scheduled for Thursday. The case illuminates a number of the findings of a report published earlier this month by the Applied Research Center and Colorlines.com. "Shattered Families," the first national investigation on the intersection of immigration enforcement and child welfare found that there are at least 5,100 children currently in foster whose parents have been detained or deported. These families often face insurmountable barriers to reunification. The ARC investigation also found that undocumented parents face bias in the child welfare system, even when parents are not detained or deported. This is partially a result of cultural and language discrimination against immigrant parents. The Times Free Press reports: Questions about English came quickly during the June termination-of-rights hearing, according to court documents. Then came questions about the parents' immigration status. "Describe for the court why even three years after [the children went into the state's custody] you cannot speak English without an interpreter," Bruce Kling, special assistant attorney general for Whitfield County Department of Family and Children's Services, said to Domitina Mendez. "I cannot speak English, but I did -- because I did not grow up speaking English," she replied in Spanish through an interpreter. Several of the children in the family are disabled and suffer from medical problems, and the child welfare department argued that the parents were not equipped to care for them. The county's attorney argued, "We basically have two individuals with first- to second-grade educations and although they have the capacity to love and care for their children, they do not have the capacity to understand their immense medical needs to properly address them." But the facts of the case and the remainder of the court deliberations suggest that the court's decision to terminate parental rights had more to do with the parents' immigration status and language abilities than the children's disabilities. ARC's research found that across the country, county child welfare department are failing to reunify families when parents are undocumented. Much like in the Georgia case, children are removed from their parents because of allegations of maltreatment, often related to poverty, but then remain in foster care because of barriers that undocumented mothers and fathers face in trying to regain custody. A child welfare caseworker in Orlando, Florida, interviewed by ARC recalled the case of a mother of two U.S. citizens who could not regain custody because federal laws block undocumented immigrants from accessing many services. "We removed the kids because of a dirty house issue, poverty basically...This has nothing to do with this woman maliciously abusing or neglecting her children but it was a situation where we did not feel safe reunifying with her because she does not have the means to get the services or help she needed. We ended up having to remove them from her." Similarly, ARC found that many county child welfare departments reason that because undocumented immigrants cannot attain driver's licenses, they can not be trusted as caregivers for children. In the Whitfield County case, the child welfare department raised this argument in their petition to terminate parental rights, saying that the parents would not be able to transport their children. Though the couple completed the child welfare department's reunification case plan tasks and even the children's attorney believed that the family should have been reunified, the judge who presided over the case ruled to terminated their parental rights. "It is the sad truth that neither of these parents will ever be able to meet the extreme special needs of these five children on a day-to-day basis," the judge told the Times Free Press. "They certainly love their children, but the children have not resided with them for three years...The children are in need of, and deserving of, a permanent home." On Thursday, Ovidio and Domitina Mendez go to court to argue that theirs should be this home. A  Change.org petition has been created in support of their case.

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Tell the Charlotte Observer to Drop the I Word

The Drop the I-Word campaign, together with the local Charlotte, North Carolina campaign led by The Latin American Coalition's youth group, United 4 The DREAM (U4TD), today launched a call for the "Charlotte Observer" to cease use of the terms "illegal immigrant" and "illegal alien." Supporters are encouraged to go to this link to send a letter to the Observer's editors asking them to drop all forms of the i-word. The local campaign's media chair and U4TD member, Selene Rios said, "We hope that the Charlotte Observer recognizes that we do not want to be called any form of 'illegal' and that it harms people individually, but also the entire community of Charlotte." Since May, U4TD members -- many of them high school students -- have talked to more than 3,000 Drop the I-Word supporters and collected their handwritten pledge signatures via petition cards. They have secured a pledge to drop the i-word from Mike Collins, host of "Charlotte Talks" at local NPR station WFAE. They've also reached out to both "Fox News Charlotte" and WSOC-TV, but has noted that reporters at neither station have moved away from using the term. U4TD also secured drop the i-word pledges from Mecklenburg County Commissioner Chair Jennifer Roberts, along with candidates for City Council Lawana Mayfield and John Autry as well as from School Board candidates Aaron Pomis, Hans Potseneder, Lloyd Scher, Lisa Hundley, Elyse Dashew and Darrin Rankin. The outreach to the Observer began in August when U4TD members met with a reporter and editors at the Charlotte Observer to ask them to refrain from using the i-word. The editors were not convinced, but said they would taper back usage of the term "illegal immigrant" and use it only once at the beginning of reports, in a! ddition to other terms like "unauthorized" and "undocumented" ! when wri ting about immigration. The group said that the paper had made small but measurable progress. But after the meeting, the term "illegal immigrants" appeared multiple times in the article titled "Arrested Immigration Rally Protesters Expected to be Freed Today." The term appeared alongside "illegal alien," and not in quoted material. The students were disappointed and committed to do a larger call to ask the Observer to drop the i-word in all forms once and for good.   The majority of young people involved and leading the local Charlotte campaign were motivated to get involved because of the increased bullying of Latinos and others perceived to be immigrants. They say students are called "illegals," "wetback," and "alien." As we reported  earlier this year, Tom Perez, Assistan! t Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, visited Charlotte to talk to students about bullying and harassment due to a rise in civil rights abuse claims in the region.  In a span of two weeks this November, at least seven cases of anti-Latino bullying in Charlotte public schools were reported to the Latin American Coalition. The problem isn't unique to Charlotte. Across the country, anti-Latino hate crimes are on the rise. According to FBI statistics, nationally, hate crimes against Latinos, when compared with hate crimes against other racial/ethnic groups, have risen at the highest rate, with a 25 percent increase between 2004 and 2008.  Latinos are a vital part of the Charlotte community. In total, Latinos make up 13.1 percent of the city's populace, and Charlotte has the biggest Latino population of North Carolina's ten largest cities. The state now ranks 11th in the nation for its number of Latino resident! s.  We support and stand with the people in ! Charlott e who are working hard to rid their community of this harmful, legally inaccurate, racially charged language. The i-word in all its forms is unacceptable. Last month we took action by asking the Associated Press to drop the i-word from their 2012 style guide. We have asked them for a meeting and are waiting for a response. We'll provide updates on all fronts as soon as we have them. Today, we need your help in standing with the community in Charlotte, North Carolina and asking the Observer to drop the i-word: To make your voice heard, go to: http://bit.ly/dtiwcharlotte

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Today's Love Goes to Nicole Harris, El Paso's Treadmill Dancing Queen

Before she could be tracked down and identified, the unnamed woman with the brilliant dance moves had already popped up around the web. Her stage: a Planet Fitness treadmill. Nicole Harris of El Paso glides and spins on the treadmill with such grace that fellow gym-goer Robert Gonzales just had to record it. He asked permission from Nicole, who agreed, as long as she wouldn't know when he was filming, otherwise she'd get nervous. Nicole began doing her unconventional exercise routine after injuring her knee during martial arts. After hearing that walking sideways on a treadmill could help her heal, she started doing it. One day, she accidentally did a spin, and was suddenly inspired to take it to the next level, she said in an interview with KDBC's Anthony Garcia. "I just hope a lot of people get inspired to start living a healthier life, hitting the gym, or just working out with their families at home. I mean, I want to be an inspiration to those who have had trouble losing weight," she said. Moving with graceful abandon amidst a room full of clunky exercise equipment, this dancing queen is putting a refreshing spin what it means to practice an active and healthy lifestyle. We're ending the day as often as possible by celebrating love. We welcome your ideas for posts. Send suggestions to submissions@colorlines.com, and be sure to put Celebrate Love in the subject line. You can send links to videos, graphics, photos, quotes, whatever. Or just chime in to the comments below and we'll find you. Be sure to let us know you've got the rights to share any media you send. To see other Love posts visit our Celebrate Love page.

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Feminism Fail: iPhone's Siri Stumped By Rape But Can Find Viagra

Siri, the intelligent software assistant on Apple's iPhone 4S, lets you use your voice to, among other things, send messages, make calls, and find directions--except the kind that have anything to do with women's health. What's strange is Siri can help easily help you find a number of places where you can find escort services. It can even help you dispose of a dead body by finding the nearest "dumps, swamps, mines, reservoirs or metal foundries." If you ask Siri where you can get Viagra, she'll respond with a number of drug stores fairly close to you. But when it comes to getting an abortion? Siri says "Sorry I couldn't find any abortion clinics." A mammogram? She'll return with the definition. It's an "X-ray film of the soft issue of the breast." Great, but that's not going to help you if you actually need an x-ray of the soft tissue of your breast. Looking for a pharmacy where you can get the morning after pill? Siri has trouble with that one too. If you're lucky, you'll end up with Google search results for the phrase "where can I get the morning after pill?" "Just speak naturally. Siri understands what you say," Apple's website says about Siri. But clearly, that's not always the case. Amadi, who identifies as a queer disabled socialist Jewish feminist woman of color, says Siri "will help our partners discard our bodies when we're killed in a domestic violence incident, but can't help us when we're living victims." Amadi came to that conclusion because she conducted her own test on amaditalks.tumblr.com. Below is a summary of her findings: So, Siri, in summary: Can't handle "I was raped" at all. When told "I've been raped" (insignificant grammatical difference) she tries but fails to find "sexual abuse resources" rather than suggesting a hospital or law enforcement help. Even if offering only "sexual abuse resources" were sufficient, she couldn't find any for me, even though Pittsburgh Action Against Rape is less than 2 miles from my house. Is useless if you've faced interpersonal violence and are badly hurt, because "my husband hit me" is as meaningless to her as "I was raped." You've got to be less specific for her help, though saying "I've been stabbed" or "I broke my (insert bone/body part) will get you a list of nearby hospitals. Can't find "domestic violence resources" in a city with a large and robust women's shelter and several crisis hotlines. Doesn't know what a mammogram is. Can't tell you where to get an x-ray or antibiotics, but can easily tell you where to get Viagra. Cannot assist in getting emergency contraception (she wants you to go to an ER, rather than a pharmacy). Believes that birth control is only available from a "birth control clinic" and says she can't find any, even though Googling "birth control clinic" leads directly to Planned Parenthood. Cannot find an abortion provider or abortion clinic (or tell you what an abortion even is) without a name even though, once again, Googling would lead directly to Planned Parenthood, yet asking generically for a crisis pregnancy center will get you the nearest one, with a map. Siri is a hit and miss. Some people love it, and others say it's not useful at all. But what's important to note is that Apple is using the results of over 40 years of research that includes the combined work from research teams  at places like Carnegie Mellon University, the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and Stanford University. Now, every other smart phone company is undoubtedly figuring out solutions that are aimed at competing with Apple's Siri. Chances are Google's mobile operating system Android will find Siri's biggest competitor first. Why does this matter to people of color so much? They're adopting smartphones at much higher rates than other consumers, and for many, it's their primary way of connecting to the Internet. Smartphone penetration is the highest among mobile users of color in the U.S., namely Asian/Pacific Islanders (45 percent), Latinos (45 percent) and African-Americans (33 percent), populations that also tend to skew younger. Meanwhile, only 27 percent of white mobile users reported owning a smartphone. Apple's iPhone is a favorite among Asians/Pacific Islander mobile users, while Android and Blackberry devices are preferred by Latinos and African-American smartphone owners. (h/t The Abortioneers blog)

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Nikky Finney's Award Speech Tops Record Year for Black Women Writers

Nikky Finney's acceptance speech for her 2011 National Book Award for Poetry deserves an honor all by itself. The award-winning poet is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Kentucky and was being honored for her recent poetry collection, "Head Off & Split." Presenter John Lithgow, who's been to dozens, if not hundreds of awards ceremonies himself, called Finney's acceptance speech "the best acceptance speech for anything that [I've] ever heard in [my] life." Shortly after her incredible acceptance speech, her book sold out across many bookstores including Amazon.com. Out the four honorees at this year's National Book Awards, three of them were women of color. Along with Finney was novelist Jesmyn Ward, who won the fiction award for "Salvage the Bones," and Thanhha Lai, a Vietnamese author who won in the young adult category for "Inside Out & Back Again." Stephen Greenblatt won the nonfiction award for "The Swerve." When Finney won her award she read a poem she prepared in anticipation of winner the award. Her acceptance speech, along with each one of her poems, draws from the history of slavery, she told the audience. "Black people were the only people in the United States ever explicitly forbidden to become literate," she told the audience. "I am now officially speechless." Watch her acceptance speech at the top of this page. Finney's speech begins around the 4:30 minute mark.

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