From Reed What Matters: Am I Not Human? 10/27 Homeless AntiCamping Ordinances

note: Please take a moment to read this repost from Reed what matters, about Sacramento's Anti-Camping Ordinances, and the people addressing it. Thankyou for raising our awareness Jennifer.

Am I Not Human?: Homelessness & Sacramento’s Anti-Camping Ordinances

Filed in Reed Educates , Taking a Stand 8 comments

It’s been cold out, real cold. I lay in my bed last night with the chills because my husband was hogging the covers. Don’t I have nerve? I could have turned on the heater, or grabbed another blanket easily! What if I didn’t have the luxury of shelter, a heater, extra blankets like many families who are searching for a place just to rest as the shelters fill up!

In recent news, KCRA.com mentioned Sacramento’s Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke publicly about the the city, county and federal government approving funds for Sacramento to “create 269 shelter beds.” That is great, but what is the city going to do about the many families that will still need shelter.

SafeGround Sacramento has a temporary solution and Mayor Kevin Johnson hears their voices. SafeGround Sacramento “called for a moratorium on enforcement of the city’s anti-camping ordinance.” As it stands today our homeless community is awoken when found sleeping on the streets to move or can be sited with a ticket for illegal camping. Imagine that, no place to sleep and you wake up to a ticket you can’t afford all because you have no where else to sleep. SafeGroundSacramento aims to help those who can’t just rest. Johnson hears their voices KCRA.com states he has “said he will have more to say next month about a permanent camping site for the homeless.”

Please reach out to SafeGround Sacramento and learn more about what their mission is by visiting their website (click here). You can see their flight on video by award-winning film maker, Costa Mantis as well by clicking here.

Note: Roots of Humanity ”On the 27thof each month a group of bloggers post on the subject of human rights. The Am I Not Human Campaign was designed to help bring awareness to social issues that you can help to work on solving.”

Thank you Roots for Humanity for calling for such an action! We all should take a stand and let our voices be heard!

My friends if you have a topic you like me to take a stand on with you or if you would like to give honorary mention to someone who is making a difference in a future post please comment below or use our contact us form.

If you enjoyed this post you can read other related post below and you could subscribe to our updates by clicking here. Thank you!

Related Intel:

Please visit the page beyond the yellow button in the sidebar and scroll down to the latest updated links to visit the posts of all of the participators. Ms Lady Deborah for instance introduced information about the Global Writeathon on Dec 10 hosted by Amnesty International. Other posts focus on World Hunger, Homelessness and Eradicating Police Taser Torture.

Am I Not Human: Taser Justice

The Blogging day on December 4 demanding Taser Justice is timely, and direly needed. The first day of blogging event opened alot of eyes, but there are more minds that need to be aware of the serious lows taser abuses plummet to on what appears to be a regular basis.
The amounts of murders by taser over the past few years and this year alone is astounding. Calls for congressional hearings have been made in the Afrosphere, and we're still waiting. Can we trust officers to stand for justice or is the overwhelming majority of law enforcement intent on killing with unnecessary deadly force? Aren't officers subjected to Mental Health screenings before they're given positions? And if yes, how is it possible so many have taken blood-thirsty action against innocent citizens?

Make sure your demands for justice are heard?
There are a few actions we can currently take. Please visit the information beyond the links to see which you're able to lend energy to:

Sign the petition demanding a congressional investigation into Taser Torture

Join the March for Dignity (to protest the non-punishment decision of Police renegade Stephanie Phillips who murdered Michael Jacobs. A march for 10,000 people is being called and organized.

Join the December 4th Day of Blogging for Taser Justice.

On behalf of the victims of taser torture who cannot ask on their own because they have been murdered, we ask:

Brown Eyed View: Am I Not Human

note:

Roots of Humanity thanks Ms Lady Deborah of Brown Eyed View for this incredible post focusing on Children's rights and needs. Thankyou for allowing us to repost this on the main blog.
Please also visit Villager who posted a link about Seeking justice for the war crimes in the Gaza conflict and sign the petition.

On the 27th of each month a group of bloggers post on the subject of human rights. The Am I Not Human Campaign was designed to help bring awareness to social issues that you can help to work on solving.

MBEV focuses on human rights issues that involve children. This month I would like to draw your attention to two different children's rights issues.

I AM 60 FEET UNDERGROUND


The International Rescue Committee is working to improve the lives of children and their families. IRC is currently sponsoring a petition to urge President Obama to sign the UN Convention on The Right of the Child.

Can you imagine being 60 feet underground? Working to sift rocks for gold instead of attending school or having the opportunity to play with your friends? In America we have laws that protect children from being exploited. The child featured in the video is 10 years old. There are other children just like her all over the world. Children who need the help and support of the international community to improve their lives.
Please stand up for this child-and others like her.
Sign the IRC petition asking President Obama and the Senate to protect children around the world.Over nearly 20 years, 193 nations have stood up one by one to declare their commitment to protecting children by ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Convention protects children by defining their basic human rights: the right to live free from violence, protected from exploitation, the right to learn and the right to live a healthy life.

The Convention ensures nations support all actions and policies in the best interests of children.

Only 2 countries have yet to show their support by ratifying the Convention—Somalia and the United States.

This cannot continue.Please sign the petition now so that children no longer pay the price for the United States' delay. (link to the petition)

Homeless Children In America
The second issue that I want to bring to your attention today is Homeless Children in America. It is an issue that we cannot ignore. The impact that it has on the lives of our youngest citizens. I work with children who have been homeless. Every day I see what that situation has already done to their psyche. They are often very insecure and very angry with everyone. When I consider that they are only 3, 4 and 5 years old-it hurts me to my heart.

There is an organization that works on the issue of homeless children in America. The National Center to End Family Homelessness. I am asking that you visit their website and take the time to learn what is going on in your home state around the issue of child homelessness. Take the time to consider what you can do to help families secure adequate and permanent shelter.

Homeless children in America have a youthful advocate who is donating her time and talent to help raise awareness and funds for their cause. Check out entertainment sensation Jamia as she talks about why she is working on behalf of homeless children.



You can link here to hear the finished production of Jamia's song, "Take The Time".

Please visit the Am I Not Human? Campaign blog. You can learn about other human rights issues. There is also information available on how you can participate in this effort to inform and advocate on the different Human Rights issues around the world.<

Am I Not Human: Finding New Ways To Make A Difference

image: Allafrica.com

3 points struck me deeply, and somewhere inside of myself the night I finished watching it, I committed to finding a way to do more to support our human siblings in re-developing countries struggling to survive, through different methods. Lots of ideas passed through my mind. I thought maybe a 'PeacefulPens collective' could somehow connect with folks providing relief in refugee camps so we could put a face to some of the people suffering and write their stories. Not sure if that was the exact idea, I turned the idea around in my mind thinking maybe it should be a 'HappyEndings' children's story collective that would feature children from the refugee camps in Darfur and other areas in the world, with the proceeds going completely to funding [healthy] education and survival needs, but I want to begin something I'm sure I can finish surely and thoroughly, and am unsure I could handle writings hundreds, or thousands of short stories in a small space of time without assistance, as it can be hard (especially during difficult financial times like these) to find folks willing to offer their assistance with no promise of profit. Enough working pens would be necessary and no child refugee's story should be left out of such a venture.

So for now I've decided that I can have a trusted non-profit collect monies accrued from 2 forthcoming fantasy anthologies and have them donated in full to ensure healthy education, and survival needs are supported for survivors living in refugee camps, looking to start their life anew, with security, and hope.

Have you been giving thought to what you can do that might go beyond petition-signing, and days of blogging (both good and powerful things, but for those who can do more the need is certainly there)?

On behalf of all of my human siblings barred from communication, or denied the technology to express what they've been enduring at the hand of greedmongering and unimaginable inhumanity, I ask:

A promising way to support the healing of the Motherland.

Click for more information.

3 Points

Peace. Protection. Punishment.


Our voices and ingenuity are still needed. How can we get the attention of politicians that will make a positive difference in the struggle Darfurees and Chadians have faced at the hands of the Janjaweed and the Governing of Omar Bashir that empowers them?

Are you a solid indie game designer? Can you create a game that will attract interest in masses of Americans and other national citizens to take action? Can you write a song that makes a difference, and donate the sales to aid refugees in need? Would you rather write a children's story, or dedicate a collection of art to supporting aid, protection, and education efforts for Darfuri's and Chadians? Will you design greetings cards that remind loved ones that they have the power to save lives in areas where the voices of the people have been assaulted? Maybe you love to bake, and can organize a bake sale and create a special Peace cookie. There are many ideas that will remind your local news, national, and international news that we haven't forgotten what happened in Rwanda, and know what is happening in Darfur, Chad, The Congo, Uganda, and Somalia for that matter. We know we have to make our concern known.

Our job is to raise awareness, write letters to our local representatives, to our President, to make our desire heard. Omar Bashir and those complicit in the inhuman atrocities that have targeted the innocent [likely over the oil in Darfur] must be brought before the International Criminal Court. It is essential to the safety of Darfuri's and Chadians, as well as the rest of the world. If crimes against humanity such as those exacted upon the innocents of Darfur and Bordering Chad are allowed to continue without punishment, these kinds of crimes can easily spread throughout the rest of the world and become seen as commonplace. We have the power to do something now.

What are you going to to do?

I'm over here brainstorming a master-plan for something I can do from my level of creativity, but for right now I can write letters to the government, and keep writing them, at least.

Eventually the government will have to start listening to what the people truly ask for, rather than invade lands criminally themselves. There's alot of clean-up to do and it starts with us.

Click here to watch the film
Visit Tracy Mcgrady's Darfur Dream team website

Am I Not Human: Rape Assaults Both Genders In The Congo

The tools of war escape the imagining of the average American citizen, but it's a very real threat for our human siblings in many areas of the world, where communities of innocents are under siege as their land is ravaged by militias that are funded by Western, and other Imperialist powers for their resources.

In addition to murdering, and separating people from their families, rape has become an inhumanly frequent matter of international news. In the Congo in particular, an area rich in the Coltan our wireless devices are dependent upon, women have known the threat of rapists bearing arms [with the Eastern Congo considered by the UN the rape capital of the world], but until recently men have either remained quiet about their experiences being raped by other men, or the phenomena has only recently become a reality for them in recent months, with what some consider hundreds of recent cases.

Though I had heard of this in passing, [I haven't spent a tremendous amount of time on the net over this particular Summer season] a recent Kameelahwrites blog post focusing on this crime's new, or newly-revealed face alerted me of the need to be a part of spreading this message, because without knowledge of the horrors our human siblings are experiencing in other parts of the world, we're in danger of fooling ourselves into thinking these issues aren't relevant, or even there. We're in danger of feeling these evils can't touch us, though they are touching our sisters and brothers in ways nothing should ever touch an individual or community.

What is most troubling to me about these evils is the underhanded networking that pulls the strings of these militias, and the way these militias [in alot of cases from the use of drugs- often for child soldiers] are able to distance themselves from their own people and rain unjust horrors down upon them.
It is certain the evils that have plagued Rwanda, The Uganda, The Congo and Darfur, to name only a few, are not in the true control of roaming militias.
The "intelligence" goes far deeper than that, into the direct pockets of those benefiting from the accumulation of resources gathered after the depopulation of the lands that are targeted. It's not a new tactic, and this is what is most upsetting. When and indeed what measure can we take as universal citizens to ensure safety, and basic resources be available to everyone? How do we disconnect the many heads of the greed-feeding network that ravages the human family with soulless regard, and exact strategy?

At present, I say we continue to spread the word. Bring it up at mealtime. Ignore the vibes others may give that it's somehow 'a drag'. Appeal to the selfishness in the community by raising the simple point that these kinds of crimes will eventually be able to strike anywhere. Without strong moves made by the ICC at least, to punish war criminals, who will care if evils that have become all too familiar to lands we may consider far away from us now, come to ours in full-bloom?

We can't afford, for the sake of humanity itself, or for our own personal lives, to pretend we're powerless. That kind of passive response to greed-mongering savagery has only empowered it. I say we at least have to be willing to speak on behalf of those suffering, and share what we can [within reason of course, as we're all struggling to survive] to aid those being stolen from and treated as less than human, or animal for that matter.

On behalf of our human siblings in the Congo [and everywhere else humanity is assaulted by inhumanity] we ask:

Am I Not Human: The Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan Request Protection For Sudanese Civilians

The Lost boys and girls are children orphaned in the second Sudanese war that erupted between the North and South in '83. By '87 over 30,000 young children were forced from their homes in Southern Sudan during a viciously long civil war, as Northern forces destroyed their villages and murdered their parents.

A trek began for them that covered the area from the Southern Sudan to refugee camps in Ethiopia (and Kenya after the fall of the Ethiopian government). 11,000 survived the trek, with 5,000 registered now as refugees across the US.

Thanking President Obama for arranging an envoy to be present during the handing down of the Abyei Arbitration Tribunal in the Hague's ruling on the oil-related boundaries contested by North and South Sudan, and for renewing support of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the National Network for the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan sent a recent letter of appreciation. In this letter they were also clear in their request that a fully implemented CPA be ensured, so civilians would be protected.

For some time Darfurians, for instance have struggled with a smaller-number-than promised peacekeeping force, and obstacles to receiving proper Aid. It is certain that US promises must be kept, as all the delays that could be afforded have by now been exhausted.

It's clear there are many delicate layers to the conflicts in Sudan, with strong emphasis on Darfur, but it's important we keep ourselves informed as world citizens and lend our support by writing letters to the US government, blogging to raise awareness, supporting Aid organizations and the like. What is happening in the Sudan, most notably in Darfur in recent years, will not be forgotten, and promises made by our government need to be kept, just as the International Criminal Court needs to bring the persecutors of Darfurians to extreme justice.

You can take action for our siblings in the Sudan through the links below. Online it takes little time to make a difference.

On behalf of our siblings in the Sudan we ask:



You can take action here:
note: Please share any links to actions you know of that we can take to eradicate genocide at the root.

Call for divestment (A major action that impacted the abolishing of Apartheid can be successful in stomping out genocide in Darfur and anywhere else it raises its head)

http://www.standnow.org/

http://www.thedevilcameonhorseback.com/action/

Lost Boys of Sudan- Take Action

10 ways to stop genocide in Darfur

DreamforDarfur.org


note:
If you enjoy Roots for Humanity and would like to blog about Human roghts during campaigns and also to share news you find, contact us at rootsofhumanity at gmail.com