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Alan Turing was a genius, a brilliant mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He helped crack the Enigma Code used by Nazis and, many historians argue, is responsible for shortening World War Two by two years, saving countless lives and ensuring victory for the Allies. So, why was this man, who should have been hailed as a hero, disgraced and sentenced to chemical castration?

Born in London, on June 23, 1912,  Alan Turing studied mathematics at Kings College, Cambridge before getting his PhD in mathematics from Princeton University, NJ. Returning to Cambridge in 1938, Turing started working at the Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School, where his research was crucial in breaking the Nazi code.

But Alan Turing was a “criminal.” Because Alan Turing was gay. And, in England, until 1967, homosexuality was a criminal offense.  In 1951, Turing started seeing a young man named Arnold Murray. Shortly thereafter, in 1952, Turing walked into his apartment and found it had been burglarized. It turns out the robber knew Murray and used homophobia and the reasonable fear of being outed, persecuted and prosecuted, to advance his larceny: Confident that gay men would not risk having their sexuality discovered, the burglar would break into the homes of Murray’s lovers. But Turing went to the police to report the crime. Sadly, when he admitted that he was in a relationship with Murray, the police deemed Turing the criminal. He was convicted of  gross indecency and had his security clearance revoked, which meant an end to his cryptology work. In order to avoid jail, Turing “chose” to under go experimental hormone treatment to “fix” his homosexuality. He suffered side effects including the enhancement of breasts and impotence. In 1954, at the age of 41, he was found dead in his apartment. The autopsy revealed cyanide, most likely from the half-eaten apple found near his body.

This is a stark example of how homophobia can cause people to act against their own self-interest and nations to act against their own perceived national security. In the midst of the Cold War, Turing would have been extremely useful working at Government Code and Cypher School. But keeping the country “safe” from what was deemed unnatural and deviant sexual behavior was, to the powers that be, more important than defending the country, and perhaps the world, from perceived foreign enemies.

In 2009, British computer scientist John Graham-Cumming started an online petition demanding that the British government ”recognize the tragic consequences of prejudice that ended this man’s life and career.” The petition, which gathered over 30,805 signatures, prompted then Prime Minister Gordon Brown to issue an apology, saying,

Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of the Second World War could have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely….

…. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work, I am very proud to say: we’re sorry. You deserved so much better.

Yet a petition for an official pardon for Turing fell on deaf ears. The government argued that since Turing admitted to committing an act that was, for better or for worse, officially a crime, a pardon could not be issued.

But this changed Tuesday, December 23rd, when Justice Minister Chris Grayling announced that the Queen would, under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, pardon the man whose ”later life was overshadowed by his conviction for homosexual activity, a sentence we would now consider unjust and discriminatory and which has now been repealed… Dr Turing deserves to be remembered and recognised for his fantastic contribution to the war effort and his legacy to science. A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man.” The pardon reads, ”Now know ye that we, in consideration of circumstances humbly represented to us, are graciously pleased to grant our grace and mercy unto the said Alan Mathison Turing and grant him our free pardon posthumously in respect of the said convictions.”

LGBT and human rights organizer Peter Tatchell said that “another 50,000-plus men who were also convicted of consenting, victimless homosexual relationships during the 20th century” deserve a pardon as well. And Dr Andrew Hodges, an Oxford University mathematician and author of Alan Turing: The Enigma, is more critical:

Alan Turing suffered appalling treatment 60 years ago and there has been a very well intended and deeply felt campaign to remedy it in some way. Unfortunately, I cannot feel that such a ‘pardon’ embodies any good legal principle. If anything, it suggests that a sufficiently valuable individual should be above the law which applies to everyone else. It’s far more important that… LGBT rights movements have succeeded with a complete change in the law – for all. So, for me, this symbolic action adds nothing.

Liberal Democrat Lord Sharkey, who introduced the original failed pardon bill in the House of Lords, agrees, in part, and offers a solution: ”It’s a wonderful thing, but we are not quite finished yet. I will continue to campaign for all those convicted as Turing was, simply for being gay, to have their convictions disregarded. That will be a proper and fitting and final end to the Turing story.”

Nothing says Christmas to your right-wing loved one like the gift of a Pat Robertson diet shake.

Though the right-wing says  bah humbug to multiculturalism and diversity,  the right wing is, in fact,  a surprisingly diverse group. Not every right wing gift is suitable for every right wing person. So here are some different gifts that will appeal the different kind of right wingers in your life.

1. For Your Fitness-Conscious Friends: Pat Robertson’s Diet Shake. This gift is perfect for your fuller-figured friends or people who want to get into shape so they can fight against the War on Christmas more effectively.  Pat’s Diet Shake “is proven to promote an increase in lean muscles, significant weight loss and an overall improvement in heart health.” The 720,000 people who’ve bought it can’t be wrong. And Pat  attributes his unbelievable ability to leg press 2,000 pounds to his shake. You can order it in Creamy Vanilla or Double Chocolate for only $21!
2. For Your More Literary Friends: Sarah Palin’s  Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas. Your more literary friends will love this opus. It’s not only a great read, but a practical guide. And, according to the book’s own author: “It might just change your life.” In her typically astute and eloquent style, Palin presents an even-handed critique of the Christmasphobes, whose “vision is a secular winter festival, which launches on Black Friday and ends sometime afterKwanzaa. People who hold Christmas in contempt believe the holiday can be ‘saved’ from its religious heritage. The secular vision wants the ‘peace’ and the ‘goodwill toward men’ without the miracle of the Virgin Birth—forgetting, of course, that there is no ultimate peace apart from Christ, and it is Christ who empowers every act of ‘goodwill toward men’ in our otherwise fallen hearts.” Silly secularists and followers of other faiths! They actually think people who don’t believe in Christ are capable of good will!
3. For Your Hard-To-Shop-For Friends:  Hobby Lobby Gift Card. Having trouble picking out a gift for that picky person? Well, let them pick out their own gift at a store which shares their values and opposition to  “death of an embryo” or what the radical left calls birth control. They’ll love the Rosie the Riveter-inspired “I Can Do All Things Because of Christ”  t-shirt or Hobby Lobby CEO David Green’s book  More Than a Hobby, which shares Green’s “cutting-edge ideas,” like “keep[ing] God and family first.”
4. For Your Daughter and Other Virgins: A Christmas-Themed Purity Ring. Want to know what’s even more effective than abstinence only? Abstinence only and a purity ring! As PurityRing.com explains, “A Purity Ring is the most important piece of jewelry that a teen or single adult can wear.” The rings “encourage purity, abstinence and chastity.” I’m partial to the  Protected Heart and the Georgia O’Keeffe-esque ” Purity Petals” purity rings. Plus, each ring comes with a Covenant of Purity Certificate & Pledge Card!
5. For Your Gun-Toting Friends: An NRA Christmas Ornament. Nothing says Merry Christmas like decorations supporting corporate-sponsored gun lobbyists. So, check out this Christmas ornament, which the NRA wittily and punnily describes: “In 2013, the NRA played a starring role in the preservation of all Americans’ Second Amendment freedoms. So, it’s fitting that this year’s ornament is built upon a bold, ornate five-pointed star base. Constructed in three dimensional splendor, the focal point of this three-dimensional, 3” x 3” keepsake is a multi-colored NRA eagle, perched on two crossed rifles and a star spangled shield.”
6. For Your Historian Friends: Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus. Though it seems paradoxical, gifting and reading the book  Killing Jesus is a great way to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It’s also the perfect way to support the War on Christmas by supporting one of the earliest and most avid defenders of CHRISTmas: Bill O’Reilly. O’Reilly was a true pioneer and saw early on the dangers posed by the War on Christmas,  saying, “I think it’s all part of the secular progressive agenda…to get Christianity and spirituality out of the public square…. Because if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage.” In this book, O’Reilly looks at “the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly two thousand years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God. Killing Jesus will take readers inside Jesus’s life, recounting the seismic political and historical events that made his death inevitable – and changed the world forever.” If you liked O’Reilly’s  Killing Kennedy or Killing Lincoln or his erotic thriller  Those who Trespass, you’ll love Killing Jesus.
7. For Your Current Events and News Junky Friends: Fox News TV Blanket. To be fair, Bill O’Reilly isn’t the only Fox News Chanel presenter who has fought to protect Christmas from countercultural attack. After all, Megyn Kelly  fought to make sure children knew that Santa was undoubtedly white, as white, in fact, as Jesus Christ! In fact, the whole network contributes to making sure everyone is aware of the Nation’s  biggest threat. So give the Fox News  TV blanket, which allows you to “watch all your favorite FOX News Channel shows in this cozy blanket.” After all, your brain will be exhausted from all the intellectual stimulation from Fox. Your body deserves to be relaxed, comfortable and cozy.
8. For Your Artistic Friends: Ted Cruz to the Future – Comic Coloring Activity Book.  Another major warrior rallying to defend this sacred holiday is Ted Cruz. First, sign the Senator’s End the War on Christmas  petition. Then buy this great book Ted Cruz to the Future-Comic Coloring Activity Book which “is a non-partisan, fact-driven view of how Texas Sen. Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz became a U.S. senator and details, through his quotes and public information his ideas for what he believes will help America grow. Cruz has openly identifies with the Tea Party and garners support from the Republican Liberty Caucus and many independents including democrats.” It’s for any age, so you don’t need to be a kid to enjoy it. The books are selling like hot cakes, so If it’s sold out, try buying another book in the same series, like  The Tea Party Coloring Book or, if your artistic friend already has that one  The Tea Party II: Why America Loves You! Coloring Book
9. For Your Movie Watching Friends:  Christmas with a Capital C. If you thought the least successful and most right wing Baldwin brother was Stephen Baldwin, you’d be close but wrong. Turns out even less successful is Daniel Baldwin. But you can see him the film Christmas with a Capital C a 2010 movie  about “An attorney returns to his small home town in Alaska and quickly rocks the boat by getting an injunction against the nativity display tradition and attacking Christmas.”
10. For people Who Love The 2nd Amendment: World Net Daily Christmas Stocking. This is the ideal gift. Don’t be fooled. This gift isn’t just about the 2nd Amendment. And it’s not just a stocking. It’s “Stuffed with knowledge, patriotism, inspiration and joy of the season! Brighten up the life of your family members and friends with the latest thing from WND, these sensational, thoughtfully assembled – and deeply discounted – WND Christmas Stockings!” Inside, you will find:

• Say Merry Christmas (Bracelet)
• a savior is born (Bracelet)
• a savior is born (Pin)
• Say Merry Christmas (Pin)
• LOL – Pin
• WND.com Logo Easy-Off Adhesive Bumper Sticker
• Chamber Indicator Safety Device
• Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self Defense – (Paperback)
• Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defense (DVD)
• The Second Amendment (Paperback)
• Handguns 101: A Guide for New Shooters (DVD)
• America was Founded by Right-Wing Extremists Bumper Sticker
• Legalize the Constitution Bumper Sticker
• Whistleblower Single Issue – May 2007 (FIREARMS & FREEDOM)

If the right is as passionate about “family values” as it claims, they should be all about paid sick leave.

This video, created by Family Values @ Work, shows just how important paid sick days are.

“I really do think family is first,” says Monica, a mother and meat cutter from Seattle, talking about that city’s paid sick days victory

One evening in 2010, Monica’s baby had a seizure. After a frantic call to 911, a terrifying rush to the hospital, and a night spent by her son’s side, Monica had to get to her 7 am shift at a local Safeway. She hated to leave her son but she couldn’t afford to lose a day’s pay or risk her job. But now with paid sick days, Monica — and more than two and a quarter million other workers across the county — don’t have to leave an ill child or go to work sick.

Monica’s story, captured by filmmaker Sekou Luke, is a compelling case for workers everywhere to earn paid sick days. 

Watch the video above. And check out Family Values @ Work, a national network of 21 state and local coalitions organizing for “family-friendly” workplace policies like paid sick days and family leave insurance. They’ve changed the lives of tens of thousands of working families by helping get paid sick leave laws passed in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, Seattle, and Portland as well as the state of Connecticut, family leave insurance laws in New Jersey and California, and paid parental leave in Washington state.

Here is the transcript, provided by Ellen Bravo:

Monica’s Story

Monica:  “So we put him [her youngest son, Kenneth Jr.] in his bed. I came downstairs to clean up the kitchen. Next thing you know, he’s [her husband Kenneth Sr.] is like,“No, no!” And I’m walking up the stairs and he’s like, “Call 911.” When I got halfway up the stairs, he’s holding him, he hands him to me and I could feel him shaking in my arms. The next thing you know, I ended up in a room and there’s all these doctors around him, and they said he had a seizure because his fever spiked up so high.

[Monica asks her son, “So what is the first initial sound that you hear?
Kenneth:  “A.”]

“Ooh, that’s like 6 in the morning and I had to be at work at 7. I came home, got dressed and went to work. And then I told my meat wrapper, ‘My youngest son had a seizure last night, and I’m tired, I’ve been in the hospital all night.” She’s like, “What the hell are you doing here? Why are you here? Families first, families first.’ And I’m like, yeah, why am I here right now?”

Kenneth Sr.: “My wife’s been real sick in the bed. I’m just doctoring her and I’m telling her to call in, make sure you don’t go to work. I just think she felt threatened by it, she went to work anyway, like she would lose her job if she didn’t show up or something.”

Monica:  “Obviously going to public schools they get sick quite often. I remember Kenadee getting sick and I said, ‘You’ll be okay. I’ll bring you some medicine home.’ But now that paid sick days has been in a while, I can actually stay home without worrying about my check being short, not worrying about a bill not being paid. I really do think family is first.”

Voiceover:

Monica isn’t the only one who can earn paid sick days because of Family Values @ Work and their partners.

That number is more than 2 and a quarter million people.

Millions more can use their time to care for a sick child or take Dad to the doctor.

Others are no longer disciplined for taking a sick day.

People no longer catch germs from someone forced to work sick.

Local businesses have healthy, committed workers and more customers.

We all win with paid sick days.

Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh aren’t the only people obsessively invested in Santa’s alleged whiteness. Just last week, a white teacher chastised his Black student for making the mistake of dressing up as Santa.

Ninth-grader Christopher Rougier of Rio Rancho, N.M did what all of Cleveland High School students did last week: dressed up in a Christmas costume. The students could choose to be a reindeer, elf, or Santa. (No dreidel or kinara costumes allowed? So much for the War on Christmas). But Christopher made a mistake. He actually thought he could pull off a Santa costume. But everyone knows his white teacher would like to believe that Santa is white. And he made sure Christopher knew that, saying,

“Don’t you know Santa Claus is white? Why are you wearing that?”

Did the same teacher chastise his students for being too big to be realistic elves? Of course not. But he did single out this student for having the wrong skin color.

According to his father, Michael, “Christopher was embarrassed; he was ashamed, like he had made a mistake.” At first the school was less than responsive to Michael, who says the principal actually hung up on him. But eventually Christopher was switched into another class, per his parents’ request, and the teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave. The school released a statement, however, that reveals neither the teacher nor the institution realizes the significance of the incident. According to Kim Vesely, Director of Parent, Community, and Staff Engagement for Rio Rancho Public Schools, ”This situation involves a teacher recently hired by Cleveland High who made – and admits he made – a stupid mistake. The remark was inappropriate and should not have been made.”

But this isn’t merely a stupid mistake. It is the latest example of racism dressed up as the historical record. This happened the same week that an indignant Fox News host Megyn Kelly insisted several times that Santa was white. Responding to Slate writer Aisha Harris’s Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore article, Kelly said:

Yet another person claiming it’s racist to have a white Santa.’ And by the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white.

According to Kelly, not only St. Nicholas (a third century bishop who lived in what is now Turkey) is white, but so is Jesus Christ, the Middle Eastern Jew:

Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change. You know, I mean, Jesus was a white man, too…. He was a historical figure; that’s a verifiable fact — as is Santa, I want you kids watching to know that.

Historical inaccuracies aside, Kelly, along with her defenders, ranging from Rush Limbuagh to The Daily Caller to Bill O’Reilly are exhibiting major anxiety and resentment over their perceived loss of white privilege, something, they of course, would never admit actually exists. And in case you’re tempted to dismiss Kelly as merely ignorant, insensitive and reactive, Media Matters points out that the host is so race-baiting that fellow Fox News colleague Kirsten Powers accused her of “doing the scary black man thing.”

The sad irony is that the very same right-wing, White-Christian fundamentalists who pretend they are defending the Republic from a non-existent War on Christmas from the left are actually launching one from the right. As Harris and Zerlina point out, insisting on Santa’s whiteness is “alienating” for Black children. Similarly, teaching a Black teenager that his skin color disqualifies him from even dressing up as Santa, sets up Santa and the holiday with which he is associated as out of bounds for certain people. Christopher’s father says that his son no longer even wants to touch the Christmas decorations at home. Michael laments, “I just want him to be back to the Christopher that was bouncing off the walls about Christmas.”

Congratulations right-wing zealots. That fantasy War on Christmas which never really existed now does. And you have yourselves to blame.

Today the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Here are 10 things you can do to participate in this important commemoration.

The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers was started by “the prostitute/porn star turned artist/sexologist” Annie Sprinkle and the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA to commemorate the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle, Washington. Now, the day is observed in cities around the world  as way to “come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence.” As the site explains, “We seek to come together to remember those who we have lost this year, and renew our commitment in the on-going struggle for empowerment, visibility, and rights for all sex workers.”

Annie Sprinkle has a list of 10 ways you can participate in day.

1. Organize a vigil/memorial/gathering in your town. Simply choose a place and time. Invite people to bring their stories, writings, thoughts, related news items, poems, lists of victims, performances, and memories. Take turns sharing.
2. Organize or attend a candlelight vigil in a public place.
3. Do something at home alone which has personal meaning, such as a memorial bath, or light a candle.
4. Call a friend and discuss the topic.

Read the rest of the list here.

Image via.

Related:
“Their words are killing us”: Violent language of anti-sex work groups
The way we talk about sex work is changing, but the way we treat sex workers is not

Published on Salon

In the fictitious world of “Breaking Bad,” Walter White produces methamphetamine in order to pay for his cancer treatment and leave his family financially secure after his death. In the real world, Dicky Joe Jackson decided to transport meth in order to pay for his son’s lifesaving medical treatment. White became a badass billionaire and indirect serial killer; Jackson became a “lifer,” sentenced to take his last breath behind bars so that his son could live.

Sadly, Jackson is only one of the 3,278 men and women serving a sentence of life in prison without parole, for nonviolent offenses. The fact that convicted murderers and rapists go free after serving only years or months in jail makes the cruel and draconian punishment for nonviolent crimes all the more absurd and perverse.

Calling me from the Forrest City Correctional Institution in eastern Arkansas, Jackson related many of the details of his heartbreaking story, the result of a combination of some of our nation’s greatest failures: an ineffective and destructive “war” on drugs, draconian sentencing and over-incarceration without even the pretense of rehabilitation, and a heartless healthcare system that forces people to make unthinkable choices.

Born and raised on a dairy farm in Boyd, Texas, Dicky Joe Jackson left high school after 10th grade to become a trucker, like his father. And like his father, and many truckers, he took speed to stay awake during long drives. In 1988, Jackson was convicted of possession of a half-gram of meth after a confidential informant posing as a fellow trucker at a Florida truck stop asked him for a pill. Then, in 1989, Jackson was convicted of transporting more than one kilogram of marijuana and served one year in a county jail in Tylertown, Miss. But far worse than his sentence was the news he received while still in jail: his 2-year-old son, Cole, had been diagnosed with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, an extremely rare autoimmune disease. Affecting one in 250,000 males, it causes recurrent bacterial, viral and fungal infections, lowers blood platelets and leads to easy bleeding and bruising.

Cole’s doctors explained that without a bone marrow transplant, he would likely have less than three years to live. The good news was that Cole’s 12-year-old sister, April, was a perfect match. The bad news was that the transplant would cost $250,000. And the Jackson family had recently lost their insurance coverage. They were given a choice, Dicky says: raise the money and pay for the only hope Cole had to live, or seek hospice care that would make Cole as comfortable as possible as he died.

Letting Cole die was not an option, and the Jacksons quickly got to work raising money.  They sold their belongings, and they wrote to family and friends asking for donations. They even wrote to celebrities ranging from members of the band Alabama to football players to Ronald Reagan, all of whom donated memorabilia for the Jacksons to auction off.  The Jacksons were able to raise $50,000 this way. Because of the rarity of Cole’s disease, they found no foundations prepared to help. After applying to national charities for ill children, some twice, and getting nowhere, they reapplied to the National Children’s Cancer Society, and received $50,000. But they were still $150,000 short of the money required to pay for the transplant.  In addition, Cole had to receive a literal lifetime of chemotherapy, and a monthly hemoglobin treatment before and after the transplant, which cost $3,700 and had to be paid upfront.

“I was desperate,” Jackson says. “I had to get the money. Before I had kids, I’d never known there was a love like that. Once you have kids the whole game changes. There ain’t nothing you wouldn’t do for them especially if they’re sick. When Cole was younger, it looked like we just beat him all the time, because he would bruise all over if you just squeezed him or picked him up. You’d barely touch him and he’d bruise and that would just break your heart … It made a crazy person out of me. I’d never faced anything like that and I hope no one else has to. But I guess it happens to a lot of people.”

In this crazy state, Jackson was working full-time driving livestock between Texas and California. A local meth dealer who knew about Cole’s medical situation asked Jackson if he would transport the drug from California to Texas on his drives; he would get around $5,000 for this, five times the $1,000 he would make transporting the livestock and produce. Once a month, Jackson transported the meth with his cargo. After a year, in 1995, Jackson was arrested for selling half a pound of methamphetamine to an undercover officer. The prosecution offered Jackson a chance to lower his sentence, but he refused to testify against his co-defendants, explaining to me: “If I make a mistake I’m gonna pay for it myself.” Jackson was found guilty of conspiring to posses or possessing with intent to distribute. The judge found that he either conspired to possess, or possessed, with intent to distribute, 81.5 kilograms; 358 times the amount that was found on him. Jackson was sentenced to three life sentences along with three 10-year charges.

The judge who presided over Jackson’s case has been accused of abuse of power and harsh and unfair sentencing. Appointed by President Bush in 1990, Judge John H. McBryde received a rare public reprimand in 1995 for his “intemperate, abusive and intimidating treatment of lawyers, fellow judges and others,” which “detrimentally affected the effective administration of justice and the business of the courts.” He was barred from hearing any new cases for a year. (McBryde’s assistant told Salon that McBryde does not comment on cases.)

Jackson was incredulous at his sentence: “I had no idea they could do what they said they would do. They raided my house, they never found anything. I thought it was a bluff. But they did what they said they’d do.”

Significantly, the man who prosecuted Jackson doesn’t think he was the ringleader either. Now a judge in the Criminal District Court of Dallas, Michael R. Snipes, wrote a letter in support of clemency for Jackson:  “I saw no indication that Mr. Jackson was violent, that he was any sort of large scale narcotics trafficker, or that he committed his crimes for any reason other than to get money to care for his gravely ill child.”

Though he has no chance of parole, Jackson is an ideal prisoner. He’s received more than 20 certificates, enrolled in all the drug and alcohol abuse programs offered, and studied everything from business to cooking. He volunteers, helping counsel suicidal inmates. Ironically, Jackson says, “When these guys get hopeless, I sit with them and talk to them — and this is coming from a guy who has no hope. They’ll get out in two years and I’m doing life and I’m the one talking them down.”

Still, Jackson calls prison “a bad dream that never ends” and “lots of nights in your prayers you ask to not wake up the next day.” He’s seen several assaults and killings, but the hardest part, he says, has been missing “my kids growing up, and not being there. And now my grandkids. All my time at home was spent building stuff for my kids. It’s pretty tough.”

Jackson doesn’t deny his mistakes.  “I know that what I did was not right or legal, even in a life and death situation, as ours was.” But he sees the punishment as inappropriate: “I’m no angel,” he says, “but in my 42 years of life, I have never harmed a soul. There are people in here doing less than me for contract killings and child molestation.”  And he sees the toll it’s taken on his family as unfair: “I don’t think other people should pay for my mistakes even though it seems like my family has been paying for mine.”

Jackson’s legal appeals have been exhausted and a presidential clemency plea was recently denied. But Dicky Joe Jackson is optimistic now that the American Civil Liberties Union has launched a campaign against life sentences without parole for nonviolent offenses.  Their report “A Living Death: Life Without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses,” details the racist and classist application of life sentencing and introduces seemingly countless tragic stories like Jackson’s. Because of their efforts, including a petition asking President Obama to review federal cases of sentencing without parole, Jackson told me, he has hope: “Because for the first 17 years, there was nothing … It seems like this year they’ve got their minds set on doing something … I’m really worked up about it. I’m excited about it. Because that’s what it takes to change things, for people to become aware.”

The New York Film Academy has put together this informative infographic demonstrating the gender inequality endemic in film-making. But there’s some hope. Check it out below the jump.

Photo: Dennis Lee Royle, Wire

Nelson Mandela and his incredible legacy were lauded today during his memorial service. But the great leader’s record on women’s rights, and specifically abortion rights, is not getting the recognition it deserves.

The right wing and anti-choice zealots are quick to condemn Mandela for his pro-choice statements, views and policies. And while criticism from many of these groups translates into an automatic honor, in my humble opinion, we should highlight all that Mandela did to empower women.

Mandela praised women for their role in fighting against apartheid and, like a true intersectionalist, saw the inextricable links among struggles against various forms of oppression. Speaking at South Africa’s first National Women’s Day in 1995, Mandela said:

As a tribute to the legions of women who navigated the path of fighting for justice before us, we ought to imprint in the supreme law of the land, firm principles upholding the rights of women. The women themselves and the whole of society, must make this a prime responsibility […] Together, we have it in our power to change South Africa for the better.

He proclaimed that freedom was contingent on women’s freedom at the opening of the first parliament in 1994:

It is vitally important that all structures of government, including the President himself, should understand this fully: that freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression.

Mandela words were accompanied by actions and policy. Over a third of Mandela’s cabinet appointees were women. Today, women constitute 44% of South Africa’s politicians. Mandela created the Commission for Gender Equality, an organization which uses research, public education, policy development, legislative initiatives, effective monitoring, and litigation to fight for a ”society free from gender oppression and all forms of inequality.” The Constitution which Mandela, as president, shaped, protects women from discrimination, rape and domestic violence. And, unlike the United States, Mandela’s South Africa ratified the U.N Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Mandela also enacted free prenatal and postnatal care to mothers in the public health system and free health care to children.

And Mandela transformed women’s lives through his commitment to reproductive rights. The Abortion and Sterilization Act, passed by the apartheid government in 1975, prohibited abortion. It provided exceptions in cases when the woman’s health or life was at risk, there was a high probability of a genetic defect, the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.  The rape or incest had to be proven, and in all cases, two doctors, neither of whom could perform the abortion, had to approve of the procedure. Not surprisingly, this had terrible ramifications. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “Admissions to gynecologic wards increased substantially due to women presenting with incomplete and septic abortions. Maternal morbidity and mortality resulting from septic abortions also increased… the 1,000 or so legal abortions performed in South Africa annually represented a tiny fraction of all abortions carried out. Estimates of the number of clandestine abortions were dramatically larger, ranging from 120,000 to 250,000 per year between 1975 and 1996.” Also not surprising were the racist results: according to a 1994 Medical Research Council study on unsafe abortion in South Africa, 99% of the women treated at state hospitals for incomplete abortions were Black.

But that all changed with Nelson Mandela’s 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, which repealed the 1975 Act and granted all women “the right to choose whether to have an early, safe and legal termination of pregnancy according to her individual beliefs.” Minors do not need to notify their parents and there is no extra medical or legal approval required. Victims of rape or incest do not have the extra burden of documenting their violation. The bill recognizes “the values of human dignity, the achievement of equality, security of the person, non-racialism and non-sexism, and the advancement of human rights and freedoms which underlie a democratic South Africa.” The bill was ahead of its time both in its recognition of autonomy–”the Constitution protects the right of persons to make decisions concerning reproduction and to security in and control over their bodies”–and in the way it framed abortion as a health care issue and the responsibility of the state:

Both women and men have the right to be informed of and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of fertility regulation of their choice, and that women have the right of access to appropriate health care services to ensure safe pregnancy and childbirth;

… the decision to have children is fundamental to women’s physical, psychological and social health and that universal access to reproductive health care services includes family planning and contraception, termination of pregnancy, as well as sexuality education and counseling programmes and services;

… the State has the responsibility to provide reproductive health to all, and also to provide safe conditions under which the right of choice can be exercised without fear or harm.

The Constitution of 1996 explicitly endorsed equality for women and freedom from discrimination based not only on race or “colour” but gender, sex and notably, pregnancy. It also guaranteed that “everyone has the right to bodily and psychological integrity, which includes the right ­to make decisions concerning reproduction” and “to security in and control over their body.”

speech in 1993, he made his intersectionalist view clear:

The normal condition for human existence is democracy, justice, peace, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity for everybody, a healthy environment and equality and solidarity among the peoples.

If we want to honor Mandela’s legacy, we must acknowledge and continue the various but interconnected struggles against racism, poverty, classism, imperialism and sexism for which he fought.

Marissa Alexander should never have been sentenced to jail for defending herself from an abusive husband by shooting at a wall, injuring nobody. She shouldn’t have to be retried. But at least she has been released on bond and was able to spend Thanksgiving with her family. It was the first time she had seen her family out of jail in three years.

Alexander had to pay $250,000 and will be under home arrest and wearing an ankle monitor until her trial on March 31st 2014.

Of course, Florida could just drop the charges but that would require that Angela Corey see Alexander for what she truly is: a victim and survivor of domestic abuser who dared to defend herself, not a criminal or an instigator of violence.

Melissa Harris Perry spoke her letter to Corey on her show this weekend.

Transcript

To the woman who put Marissa Alexander in jail

There is nothing like being home for the holidays with your loved ones. So I can only imagine that this Thanksgiving is particularly bittersweet for Marissa Alexander, who was granted a special pre-trial release at 10:30 PM on Wednesday – Thanksgiving Eve – after spending more than 1000 days in jail, and barely seeing her youngest child who just recently turned three.

But my letter is not to Marissa. Sis, I am saving that one for when you are finally freed for good. No, my letter this week is to the woman that worked to put you in jail in the first place: Florida State Attorney for the fourth judicial circuit, Angela Corey.

Dear Angela Corey,

It’s me, Melissa.

Angela, there are few times in life that we get second chances to right our wrongs. Well Angela, this is yours.

You have been called a fierce victim’s advocate, so it is way past time that you start acting like it.

Because a woman who was hospitalized in 2009 after being shoved into a bathtub and hitting her head – she is a victim.

A woman whose estranged husband has admitted to abusing all five mothers of his kids – she is his victim.

And when that woman, that victim, who has just recently given birth, fires a warning shot near the man that has cornered her in her home – she is a victim who feels she has no other recourse.

But that is part of the problem, Angela. You never saw Marissa as a victim. You saw Marissa as the aggressor and even justified why the infamous “Stand Your Ground” law was not applied in Marissa’s case.

Read the rest of the letter here or watch the video here.