WE'RE ALL FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE!

WE'RE ALL FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE!

In 1607, the Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers, and probably even some LGBT pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrims were a persecuted religious minority, fleeing discrimination, imprisonment and even death in their homelands. They dreamed of a new start in a land free from oppression, hate and prejudice.  410 years later it’s amazing to see how much progress we have made on the beautiful foundations of our nation… in going backwards!

What separates the family history of our current President Donald Trump from a Syrian refugee trying to save the lives of their children or an Iranian doctor looking to start a placement in the USA? Only three generations! That’s how long the Donald’s immigrant family has been living in the US!

The history of the United States is the history of immigration. It is one of the finest examples of a vast kaleidoscope of people, colors, and cultures coming together under one proud banner of acceptance and tolerance.

Immigrants to the United States are in many ways the backbone of our country. They work in our health services, our industries; they serve in our military and risk their lives alongside US citizens to defend our brave ideals and make our land safer. As US citizens, it is easy to forget that we simply had the good fortune that our ancestors arrived slightly earlier than others. These immigrants, from Einstein to the Syrian roots of Steve Jobs, have shaped our culture and helped our sciences to create the most advanced nation the world has ever seen.

 Where do we draw the line on who is welcome? If we were to consider one particular third generation immigrant, who wants to destroy free expression (the press), the justice system (“so called” Judges), and the very fabric of our nation it is then when we might want to withdraw the welcome mat, right?  No, even then, we wouldn’t do it! The strength of the US is that immigrants and their descendants are all welcome, even Orange hued ones with dubious hair.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD NOW!

Are you angry? A lot of people are and that’s good, there’s a lot to get angry about in the USA these days: The Republicans are attempting to defund Planned Parenthood and reduce vital access to women’s health services and information; they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the only source of affordable health care for millions of Americans; the US Intelligence Community (FBI, CIA and NSA) has confirmed that “the Russian Government conspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances wherever possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton …”, our biggest enemy over the last century has got a Trojan horse through the gate.

And that’s just the beginning. The Donald is here for the next four years and he’ll have the full backing of both Houses to push through whatever him and his cronies want. Our rights, our lives and our nation are under threat.

So what can we do about this?  Stay at home and take a duvet day that lasts for the next four years? Abandon the country and move to Canada?  Eat ice cream as a protest? Or just watch Frozen until we can “Let it Go?” Of course not. We all have an obligation to be the change we want to see in the world and our nation needs us now more than ever.

But how do we do that? What is one voice in such a crowd? The path to victory will be revealed to us by following the proud traditions and history of the US by getting angry and getting organized.

After all, the original founding fathers (and mothers) of this nation were protesting unfair taxes and lack of representation in the British Empire.  At the time, Britain was the world’s largest and most powerful superpower. In those days it seemed impossible to overcome such a repressive power structure, but they prevailed. Nowadays, the USA is the super power. And the British Empire? Well, have you watched the Crown on Netflix?

It doesn’t stop there, if you’re a woman and able to vote it’s because of the protests of woman like Susan B. Anthony who lead the women’s suffrage movement.  Not only did she win you the vote but she got her face on money (ok, a limited edition dollar coin).  And, as any kid will tell you, you know you’ve arrived when they put your face on money.

If you’re black and able to vote it’s thanks to the civil rights protestors in the 1960s. Again and again when people have joined forces and shouted in unison, only then do politicians have to stop and listen. Alone we may be relatively quiet but when we join together we can rock the very foundations of the world. Every one of those politicians be they senators, presidents or even your local assembly person is only in place for a few years and then they need to get voted in again. They need your vote and so they need to listen. Despite the attacks on our democratic process we will be heard.

In fact, you can even have a recall vote and kick them out before their time is up.  Kind of like packaging up a faulty juicer and sending it back to Amazon.  We may not have won the last election, we may have the president Vladimir Putin wants more than the rest of us do. But if we believe in our power and come together to express it, we can make sure that 2016 is the last election where we have to put up with a nightmare result.

Tomorrow starts today and we can make our voices heard right now at the Women’s March on Washington on 21 January. Women from across the nation will be marching to tell the Mandarin-colored president that his views are not ours and we will fight for what we believe in every single day he occupies the White House. The Machisma Militia will be there loud and proud and we want all of you to join with us in a display of united power. See you there!   

2016 TO 2017 IT’S A FULL CONTACT BLOODSPORT!

2016 has been a tough year. Tough? Very tough! It was like going to what you thought was going to be a gentle Yoga class only it’s a full contact bloodsport and you first find out when you get smacked in the face!

One minute we were getting ready to welcome in the first woman president. Then bang, smack, like some horrible zombie out of a cheesy horror movie Trump became the President Elect. 

While there are so many people upset over this shocking change in our political theme, women are especially upset to see decades of progress threatened to be reversed. Whether it is a judge letting a rapist off the hook because he’s really good at swimming, or yet another attack on Planned Parenthood, these injustices are coming thick and fast.

Yeah, it does feel like a roundhouse, an Ultimate Fighting Championship punch to the kisser! In the spirit of Rhonda Rousey and Olympic champ Nicola Adams women can take a hit and come right back! No orange faced, Cheeto monster-in-chief will stand in our way.

Trump’s transition team may be packing his cabinet with more nuts than a giant sack of trail mix and his party may squat in the House and Senate. But, these things can change. Protest, organization and winning elections are battles we can all win.  Like what’s happened with Nevada’s Cortez Masto, the nation’s first Latina Senator. We at MM are proud to be part of that fight.

We’re going to be writing, singing, and putting people in contact with each other. We’ll be working with women, men, gays, straights, every gender and every person to keep our causes moving forward. A vast and beautiful quilt of resistance is being stitched even as you read this.  Don’t tread on us and don’t you ever, EVER Trump on us!

We just took an unexpected smack to the chops. But, we’re ready to give our heads a shake and fight back.  So, pick up a banner, a pen or a guitar and start expressing YOU.  You’ll look back and tell your descendants 2016 MEH, but 2017 was YEAH!

# RhondaRousey #NicolaAdams

SHE HAS ATTITUDE, LIKE THE GREAT ONE, ALI

How do you break through the glass ceiling? Do you chip away at it a little bit every day? That can work, but if you’re Olympic gold medallist Claressa Shields, you ball up your fist and punch through it. But it took Claressa many years of hard work and heartbreak to swing that punch.

Now, in 2016, in the aftermath of Trump triumphant we really need a champion who can punch through for all the women and abandoned communities in the USA. Who else then to stand as a true people’s champion than a young African-American woman from Flint, Michigan. A champion in a 10 round rumble with a patriarchy who are going out for the count.

Claressa’s story was a fairy tale, which meant like Cinderella. She started in poverty and misery and overcame it, though Claressa had no Fairy Godmother. Coming from a broken home, her father was in and out of prison; her mother struggling and failing to maintain a safe household. A young Claressa often went days without food and was assaulted and sexually abused by strange men brought into her home. Then she found boxing, “I was running and running from failure and the further I ran, the further away I got. I ran a lot.”

She went to the Olympics won every one of her matches and the gold. She was a prodigious talent who punched her way to the top.  Play the song Eye of the Tiger and roll credits, she’s the hero right? But life isn’t a movie and life carries on after that bell rings. Claressa came home and her story continued.

The media didn’t like how she talked tough. She had an attitude like the great one Ali. They couldn’t forgive her for not ever being beaten. She wasn’t pretty or feminine enough; they didn’t like her hair! Even an Olympic gold medallist boxer at age 17 can’t just punch through the patriarchy. 

Not least of all is when she had to return to her hometown of Flint. She said, “The water isn’t even the worst thing, it’s the gun violence. I know at least 15 kids who’ve been shot and killed.”

Claressa realised she would have to do what no US boxer had done before and catch lightning in the bottle twice; she was going to have to return to the Olympics.

Claressa struggled through her training and still, at age 21, she punched through another barrier by winning her second gold medal in the Rio Olympics. She wanted to prove she was no fluke; she certainly knocked that one out.

Today, only a few months later, she is hammering at yet another glass ceiling.  Claressa is now a professional fighter, but she is, as yet, unsigned by a promoter. If there is one person who can definitely shake up the world of boxing, it’s Claressa.  She hasn’t been down for the count yet and she looks like she won’t be hitting the canvas anytime soon.