TRIGGER WARNING: Rape, death, shooting, mass shooting.
Authors note: These are events that happened this week that I chose to highlight. These are in no way everything everyone needs to know. I highly encourage everyone to read the news themselves, from reliable sources, to develop their own opinions. My opinions have been italicized. With that being said all opinions stated in this article are my own so if you don’t like them then drink water and mind your business.
This week’s news is probably going to make you upset, all of it is intense. So much happened this week, ranging from a new bill in Georgia to a mass shooting in Colorado.
Colorado Shooting
On Monday, March 22nd, another narcissistic fool named Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa decided to play God and opened fire on innocent civilians in a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. The shooting comes just days after another mass shooting in Atlanta took the lives of eight people at spas. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa has been taken into custody after the shooting and faces 10 first-degree counts of murder and one charge of attempted murder. To add to the misery of the victim’s families, the shooter has yet to reveal the motive for the murders. The names and ages of those who lost their lives are Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Eric Talley, 51 and Jody Waters, 65. Did y’all know in 2021 there have already been 104 mass shootings? How tf has there been 104 shootings yet we’re only at day 86 of the year? Putting in overtime in the wrong places; Go put overtime in at work! Go put in overtime at the library! Go put overtime in at any other place! America opens up a little bit after quarantine and the dummies decide to start shooting. This statistic is shameful.
Australian Parliament
On Wednesday, March 24th, it was revealed that former Liberal staffer, 26-year-old Brittany Higgins, had lodged a formal complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office, accusing its staff of spreading rumors about her partner. Last month, Higgins went public with the allegation that she was raped by an unnamed male colleague inside a minister’s office in 2019. Her bravery sparked an outpour of allegations against the Australian Parliament and federal politicians involving rape and other sexual misconduct against women. Also, three more women alleged they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by the same man. She said she had told her employer and they told her she would be supported if she pursued a police complaint, but she felt pressured not to as she believed it would end her career. In a statement last month Higgins said “I have only been made aware of key elements of my own sexual assault as a result of coming forward publicly with my story…I didn’t know security guards let me into Minister Reynolds’ suite. I didn’t know that security guards came into the office multiple times seeing me in a state of undress. I didn’t know they were undertaking an internal review into how the matter was handled at the time. I didn’t know that they debated calling an ambulance at the time of the incident.” These stories make me sooooo angry I can’t put it in words!!! This is a perfect example of why 96% percent of 18- 24 women are not reporting sexual harassment yet 97% of 18–24-year-old women have been sexually harassed.
Georgia
On Thursday, March 25th, Republicans in Georgia passed a new elections bill that voting rights advocates say is a bald-faced attempt at voter suppression. The new law imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water. Sounds like a bunch of different types of voter suppression to me. Not surprised after the stuff that went down in Georgia during its recent election. The racists, oops I mean republicans, have found yet another way to suppress the Black vote. President Biden said he will do everything in his power to halt efforts to restrict voting rights and on Friday he called Georgia’s new law an “attack on the Constitution.” Mister broken promises is once again talking. Let’s see some action with these words, please. It was no surprise that by Thursday afternoon there was a lawsuit against the new law filed by the New Georgia Project, the Black Voters Matter Fund and Rise Inc.
Tulsa Opera
Daniel Bernard Roumain was commissioned by the Tulsa Opera to compose a piece to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. Mr. Roumain submitted a piece called “They Still Want to Kill Us” and it was to be performed by mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. Graves was uncomfortable with the lyric, “God Bless America, God Damn America!” and asked if he would consider altering his lyrics and he said no. In response, Tulsa Opera has removed Daniel Roumain from its lineup for an upcoming concert due to the lyrics. The Black Opera Alliance released a statement that expressed my opinion perfectly “The piece was written for Denyce Graves, a Black woman who has the right as an artist to decline to sing a text that does not align with her principles…Rather than respecting and uplifting these two nuanced differences in Black perspective, and hiring another Black artist to sing Mr. Roumain’s piece as written, Tulsa Opera in a public statement chose to weaponize the voice of one Black artist to justify the silencing of another.” The Black Opera Alliance even offered a solution: “Tulsa Opera should have honored both Ms. Graves’ personal preference and Mr. Roumain’s personal creation by hiring an additional singer who would perform the aria as commissioned.” Are y’all not tired of pitting Black people against each other in the media? Cause I am this seems like it could have been a simple fix to me.
Picking Flowers
This week a case about a six-year-old boy who was forced to appear in court for allegedly picking a tulip from a yard at his bus stop in North Carolina has gone viral. He was on trial in juvenile court for injury to real property. Are you freakin kidding me!!!! What child has never picked a flower from the side of the road? More importantly, I wanna know who reported this child. The child was so young he couldn’t even sit still and pay attention in court. His attorney Julie Boyer said the boy’s attention span was too short to follow the proceedings so she had to hand him crayons and a coloring book. This court case has probably changed this boy’s life and his view of the judicial system like he even had one. This is scary because “the earlier that you introduce a child to the criminal justice system, the higher the chances are that they will remain in the criminal justice system” said Lyana Hunter of the New Hanover County public defender’s office. A six-year-old who doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand the juvenile justice process and can’t make informed decisions talk less of understanding the consequences. The child’s mother was unable to attend the intake meeting so he had to go alone. North Carolina law requires that the 6-year-old would have to assist in defending himself. HUHHHHHH???????? I’m a whole adult and I know I wouldn’t be able to properly defend myself. Many believe this is a current ongoing case while some sources have stated that the case is actually 13 years old. Either way, this case still doesn’t make sense to me.
